{"id":16538,"date":"2025-01-03T02:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T02:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=16538"},"modified":"2025-01-03T02:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T02:58:08","slug":"djokovic-beats-monfils-for-20th-time-in-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=16538","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic beats Monfils for 20th time in his career"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-subtitle\">The popular Serbian is searching for his 100th ATP Tour title win<\/div>\n<div class=\"row more-info\">\n<div class=\"col-md-8\">\n<div class=\"article-image-gallery\">\n<div class=\"layout-ratio\"><picture><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy figure-img img-fluid rounded loaded\" title=\"Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during his singles match against Gael Monfils of France at the Brisbane International on Thursday. (AFP)\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn4.premiumread.com\/?url=https:\/\/gulf-times.com\/gulftimes\/uploads\/images\/2025\/01\/02\/267850.jpg&amp;w=800&amp;q=100&amp;f=webp\" alt=\"Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during his singles match against Gael Monfils of France at the Brisbane International on Thursday. (AFP)\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn4.premiumread.com\/?url=https:\/\/gulf-times.com\/gulftimes\/uploads\/images\/2025\/01\/02\/267850.jpg&amp;w=800&amp;q=100&amp;f=webp\" data-was-processed=\"true\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"imgCaption\">Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during his singles match against Gael Monfils of France at the Brisbane International on Thursday. (AFP)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body \">Novak Djokovic\u2019s bid for a 100th ATP Tour title gained momentum on Thursday as the Serb thumped fellow veteran Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3 to reach the Brisbane International quarter-finals.<br \/>\nThe 37-year-old, who is looking to join Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors (109) as players who have won at least a century of titles, breezed through the first set on the back of a solitary break in the fourth game.<br \/>\nDjokovic never looked back from there as he powered through the second set to extend his win-loss record against the French player to 20-0, nearly two decades after their first encounter in the opening round of the 2005 US Open.<br \/>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing for many years,\u201d said Djokovic, who will be gunning for an 11th Australian Open title when the season\u2019s opening Grand Slam begins later this month.<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019ve known Gael since I was 15. We played quite a bit at juniors and on Tour and have had a good score against him but we have had some incredible battles.<br \/>\n\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best, if not the best, athlete in our sport over the years,\u201d Djokovic said.<br \/>\nDjokovic will step up his preparations for a tilt at a 25th Grand Slam title at the Jan. 12-26 Australian Open when he takes on big-serving American Reilly Opelka in the next round.<br \/>\nOpelka got past Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(9) 7-6(4) while Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, another player who can blow away his opponents with booming serves, upset fourth seed Frances Tiafoe 6-4 7-6(4).<br \/>\nCzech 19-year-old Jakub Mensik earlier mowed down Serbian lucky loser Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-2.<br \/>\nIn the women\u2019s event, reigning US Open and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka endured a stern test in the opening set against Kazakhstan\u2019s Yulia Putintseva before winning 7-6(2) 6-4.<br \/>\nTunisia\u2019s Ons Jabeur, who overcame a shoulder injury that ended her 2024 season early, also dug deep to defeat Armenia\u2019s Elina Avanesyan 6-4 1-6 6-4 and reach her first tour quarter-final since the Berlin Open in June. It was the end of the road for third seed Daria Kasatkina, who fell to a 1-6 6-2 7-5 defeat against fellow Russian Polina Kudermetova, while their compatriot Mirra Andreeva eased past Linda Noskova 6-3 6-0.<br \/>\nTwo times Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka also crashed out after the Belarusian was defeated 6-4 6-4 by Czech Marie Bouzkova.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The popular Serbian is searching for his 100th ATP Tour title win Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during his singles match against Gael Monfils of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Djokovic beats Monfils for 20th time in his career - 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