Djokovic faces teen Tomic after comfortable win
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Your support makes all the difference.Second seed Novak Djokovic set up a mouthwatering quarter-final tie with Australian qualifer Bernard Tomic after breezing past Michael Llodra in straight sets today.
Two days after his wobble against Marcos Baghdatis, Djokovic looked back to his best today, delivering a punishing 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory in a little more than 90 minutes on Court One.
The world number two will have to beat the impressive Tomic, who despatched Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko to make the last eight, to set up a probable semi-final against Roger Federer.
Should he produce the same performance against Tomic as he did today, though, there is little to suggest Djokovic will be defeated by the 18-year-old, who doubles up as his practice partner.
The Serb lost his cool during his thrilling encounter with Baghdatis, smashing his racquet on Centre Court, but today he was calmness personified throughout.
Djokovic took a little more than a minute to win his first game to love, before his opponent gifted him a break straight after, double-faulting at the worst possible time.
The Australian Open champion continued to stamp his authority on the match, moving 4-1 ahead in the first with some powerful groundstrokes.
Djokovic squandered two break points in the following game, but it was not enough to stop him clinching the set with just 28 minutes gone.
It took until the sixth game of the second set for Djokovic to break his opponent again. Llodra was forced to scamper into all corners of the court in a punishing rally before eventually finding the net.
Djokovic held to love to make it 5-3 before the crowd were treated to a thrilling game in the ninth game of the second set.
The world number two won an exciting rally with a backhand that just cleared the net to take the game to deuce before seeing Llodra find the net moments later to give Djokovic the second set.
Raindrops started falling on court at the start of the third set, but play continued and Llodra saved two break points in the first game thanks to a couple of blistering serves which Djokovic could not return.
Llodra matched Djokovic in the third set until the eighth game, when the Frenchman's failure to put away a simple smash gave the favourite two break points.
Llodra rescued the first with an ace but a clever slice at the net moved Djokovic within one game of victory.
Djokovic wasted no time wrapping up the game, holding to love, with the winning shot a well-placed forehand.
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