US OPEN: Novak Djokovic Ease Past Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo to reach last eight

Novak Djokovic produced a five star performance and beat Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his 57th Grand Slam quarter-final on Sunday night.

”I knew that Borna had a big game, even though we hadn’t faced each other at the tour level,” Djokovic said. “I was watching him play qualifying and also the last couple of rounds of the main draw and I saw that he has big weapons with his serve and forehand and that he moves pretty well for a big guy. One of the keys to the match was to neutralise his serve, try to reduce the number of aces and winners from that shot.”

The 23-time major champion, who will reclaim No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 11 September for a record-extending 390th week regardless of his ultimate result in New York, will next meet top-ranked American Taylor Fritz, whom he leads 7-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“Taylor has been an established Top 10 player for the past couple of years and he’s been playing some terrific tennis, particularly on home soil in hard-court tournaments here in the States,” Djokovic said. “He’s improved so much over the years. Obviously the matches will only get tougher from here onwards, and I’m ready for the challenge.”

Gojo came into the tournament as the world No. 105 but is up to No. 76 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.