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That the game was not going to be easy, surely Djokovic knew it, but perhaps he did not think that it would cost him so much to seal his access to the round of 16 in the tournament in which he defends the crown.
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And it is that Dimitrov, with his right arm as a hammer, used the serve and the atmosphere of a public that supported him to put the Serbian on the ropes, who in the third set got rid of all the accumulated tension with a liberating cry by going 4-1 that silenced the center court of the Foro Italico.
Djoovic is already expecting a rival in the round of 16, who will come out of the winner between the Englishman Cameron Norrie (13) and the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (92).
The entrance Maximum effort for Djokovic was first published on newspaper TODAY.