TOKYO — Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Open on Wednesday by beating Japanese wild-card entry Go Soeda 6-3, 7-5.
Djokovic, who is attempting to win a title on his tournament debut for the 10th time, hit 10 aces and saved three of four break points.
“I was pleased to do it in two,” Djokovic said. “He played a good match, fought very hard and made me work for my win today.”
Djokovic retired with a left-shoulder injury during his fourth-round match against Stan Wawrinka at the US Open but showed no lingering effects in Tokyo.
With Djokovic serving for the win, Soeda broke his opponent for the first time when Djokovic double-faulted to make it 5-4. But the top-ranked Serb broke Soeda for the fourth time in the final game.
“I think I played a pretty good tennis match,” Djokovic said. “I served very well until that game I was serving for the match at 5-3, but then I doubled-faulted and allowed him to break and come back into the match.”
Djokovic, who is 42-8 this season with three titles in four finals, will next face Lucas Pouille in the quarterfinals. Pouille beat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-2.
Djokovic said he feels fully recovered from his injury.
“I’ve played three games in a row, the doubles on Monday then two straight singles matches back-to-back, so everything is fine,” he said.
Also, Yasutaka Uchiyama beat Radu Albot 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4, Reilly Opelka defeated Gilles Simon 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), and third-seeded David Goffin rallied to beat Pablo Carreno Busta 1-6, 7-6 (8), 6-0.
Goffin is the lone former champion in the draw. He has made the tournament final in both of his previous appearances, falling to Nick Kyrgios in the 2016 final before defeating Adrian Mannarino for the title in 2017.