Stat of the Day: Novak Djokovic has now won 85 or more matches at all four Grand Slams
He was already the only player to win 80 at each of them.
Novak Djokovic defeated Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo in the fourth round of the US Open on Sunday night, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, for his 85th career win at the last Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Having already been the only player with 80 or more wins at all four majors, he’s now one-upped himself with 85 or more at each of them.
DJOKOVIC’S WIN-LOSS RECORD BY MAJOR:
89-8 at Australian Open (10 titles)
92-16 at Roland Garros (3 titles)
92-11 at Wimbledon (7 titles)
85-13 at US Open (3 titles)
Djokovic now has a 358-48 career win-loss record across all four Grand Slams. He’s closing in on the only two players with more career wins than him at the four biggest events on the tennis calendar—Roger Federer (369-60) and Serena Williams (367-56).
Djokovic asserted himself early on Sunday night, breaking the big-hitting Gojo in the very first game of the match, and eventually grabbing a second break for 4-1 en route to tucking away the opening set.
Gojo put up some serious resistance in the second set, holding then breaking for a 2-0 lead, and even after Djokovic got the break back, the two stayed on serve through 5-all. But that’s when Djokovic shifted gears again, breaking for 6-5 and then holding for a two-sets-to-none lead.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion then broke at love in the seventh game of the third set en route to victory, sealing it with his 12th ace of the match.
Gojo finished with the bigger numbers—40 winners to 40 unforced errors—but Djokovic finished with the better numbers, 26 winners to 12 unforced errors.
“I am satisfied,” Djokovic said afterwards. “I like how I entered the match today. Good intensity, great first set, obviously I didn’t want to repeat the first set or first couple of sets from the third round, where I was a little bit flat, I would say, and wasn’t bringing the intensity I brought out tonight.
“And that made a difference.”
Awaiting Djokovic in the quarterfinals will be No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz, a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victor over Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker.
Djokovic leads Fritz in their head-to-head, 7-0, and 15-2 in sets.