Novak Djokovic continued his Italian Open title defence with a 6-3 4-6 6-1 victory over Bulgarian 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday while women's champion Iga Swiatek dished out another 'bagel' as she defeated Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 14, 2023 Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts during his round of 32 match against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov REUTERS/Aleksandra SzmigielROME, May 14 - Novak Djokovic continued his Italian Open title defence with a 6-3 4-6 6-1 victory over Bulgarian 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday while women's champion Iga Swiatek dished out another "bagel" as she defeated Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
Both players surrendered serve early in the first set before Djokovic raised his game to pull away for a 4-1 lead, and an 11th victory over Dimitrov in 12 meetings began to look inevitable. The former world number three did however reel off four straight games from 2-4 to take the second set and force a decider. But Djokovic responded strongly and let out a roar after securing a double break in the third set and held firm this time to advance.Two-times defending champion Swiatek earlier dropped the first two games of her third-round clash with Tsurenko. But the world number one hit back to claim the next 12 for a 6-2 6-0 victory that extended her Rome win streak to 13 matches.
Former Paris runner-up Marketa Vondrousova knocked out Greek ninth seed Maria Sakkari 7-5 6-3 and will have another chance to continue her giant-killing run in Rome when she takes on Elena Rybakina or Anna Kalinskaya in the round of 16.Daniil Medvedev broke his Rome duck on his fourth attempt with a clinical second-round win over Emil Ruusuvuori.
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