The Serbian ran rings round his French opponent on Rod Laver Enviornment, successful 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 and underlining his standing as red-hot favorite to carry an eleventh title at Melbourne Park.
“I actually wished to lose that sport within the third set as a result of the strain was build up a lot within the stadium,” he joked, referring to the potential of successful with out shedding a sport.
“I simply wanted to get that out of the best way and re-focus.”
The world primary is into the final eight of a Grand Slam for the 58th time, equalling Roger Federer’s males’s file as he maintains an iron grip on the sport.
He has now received 32 consecutive matches on the Australian Open, not tasting defeat since he misplaced towards South Korea’s Chung Hyeon in 2018. The ten-time champion didn’t compete in 2022 because of his coronavirus vaccination standing.Mannarino, whose opening three matches all went to 5 units, has loved a late-career resurgence, successful three titles final 12 months, at Newport, Astana and Sofia.
However he was made to look strange by the highest seed, who by no means took his foot off the pedal.
Djokovic shrugged off two break factors on his serve within the opening sport earlier than breaking himself for a 2-0 lead.
He repeated the feat twice extra in an completely dominant efficiency, which was performed underneath the roof because of a bathe, successful 28 factors to his opponent’s 12.
Mannarino couldn’t get on the board within the second set both and was damaged three extra occasions as Djokovic threatened to brush to victory with out shedding a single sport.
The Frenchman briefly held up Djokovic’s cost, holding serve thrice within the third set, however that solely delayed the inevitable as the highest seed served it out.
Djokovic, 36, began his 2024 Australian Open marketing campaign slowly, combating a virus and dropping units in his first two matches, however his stage has since soared.
The Serb, a 12 months older than his opponent, mentioned he had performed “nice from the primary level to the final”.
“The final couple of days have been actually good,” he added. “It is moving into a constructive route.”
Djokovic will meet both seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or American twelfth seed Taylor Fritz for a spot within the semi-finals.
