Novak Djokovic has lent his starpower to the inaugural Vanda Pharmaceutical Hellenic Championship, and he will continue to do so for a few more days at the very least.
Playing professionally in Greece for the first time, the top seed took out Alejandro Tabilo for the first time on Tuesday, surging past the left-handed Chilean 7-6(3), 6-1 in one hour and 39 minutes to book his spot in his 225th ATP quarterfinal. He has reached that enormous amount of quarterfinals across 25 different countries.
“It feels like home, playing in Athens,” said Djokovic, who recently moved to Athens with his family. “I always loved Greece… Athens is in my heart, no question about it.”
The 38-year-old had lost his previous two encounters with Tabilo, at Rome in 2024 and this year in Monte-Carlo, but he made use of the fast-playing hard courts and powered up his serve to make life easier against the 28-year-old former world No.19.
Djokovic failed to convert on two break points in the opening game of the match, but he didn’t face a break point in the set and he dominated the tiebreak to take the one set to love lead.
Djokovic won 34 of 37 first-serve points in the contest, cracked 13 aces and saved the only break point he faced.
Djokovic hit 27 winners against just 12 for Tabilo.
With the crowd chanting “Nole! Nole!”, the 24-time major champion ripped through the second set, reeling off the final five games to book his 1160th career win against 223 losses.
He will face either sixth-seeded Nuno Borges or Eliot Spizzirri in the quarterfinals.
“I’m just really thrilled to get through tonight against Tabilo, a player who I had never won against. I was more under tension, and stressed before the match than I would be in some other matches.”
