"Novak Djokovic saw Mannarino beat Ben Shelton & decided to destroy him to further slam the phone down"- Fans react to Serb's Australian Open 4R win

Novak Djokovic continued his five-year unbeaten run at the Australian Open with a ruthless victory over Adrian Mannarino on Sunday, January 21.

Djokovic had a tough start to his campaign at the 2024 Australian Open. However, the 36-year-old showed his mettle at the Rod Laver Arena during his fourth-round clash. He blasted 17 aces and 31 winners to oust Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 6-0, 6-3.

Tennis fans were delighted to see Djokovic back at his best in Melbourne, and reacted strongly to his fourth-round win on social media. Some noted that Mannarino had played three five-setters at the Australian Open so far, including in the third round against Ben Shelton, and was not adequately prepared for the match.

Some fans also opined that the defending champion strategically broke down Mannarino's game by taking away all the pace from his shots and taking advantage of the Frenchman's low-tension racket.

One fan joked that Mannarino's previous opponent Ben Shelton, with whom Novak Djokovic had a bit of a tiff at last year's US Open over the 'dialed in' celebration, might have served as inspiration for the Serb's ruthlessness on Sunday.

"Djoker would have gone for three bagels but his body is a temple so his diet wouldn’t allow it," a fan joked on Reddit.

"Sometimes Novak destroys his opponent, sometimes he lets his opponent destroys himself. He knows Adrian is good at deflecting so he gave zero pace on his shots and let Adrian's wild low-tension racket do the damage for him. Masterclass from djoko," commented a fan.

"Djokovic saw Mannarino beat Shelton and decided that he needed to destroy him to further slam the phone down," a fan said on Reddit.

"All that effort just to get destroyed by Djokovic in the fourth round," another fan stated.

Here are some more fan reactions to the World No. 1's fourth-round win at the 2024 Australian Open:

Screengrab from Reddit

Screengrab from Reddit

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Novak Djokovic to face Taylor Fritz in Australian Open QF

Taylor Fritz

Novak Djokovic will continue his title defense at the 2024 Australian Open on Wednesday (January 24), against World No. 12 Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. Djokovic has a spotless record against the American, beating him in all eight contests between the two on the ATP Tour.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion last faced and bettered Fritz in the quarterfinals of the 2023 US Open. The American No. 1 would be hoping to turn around his fortunes in his first-ever quarterfinal at the Australian Open.

Taylor Fritz has so far defeated Facundo Diaz Acosta, Hugo Gaston, Fabian Marozsan and last year's finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas in Melbourne. Djokovic, meanwhile, has secured victories against Dino Prizmic, Alexei Popyrin, Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Adrian Mannarino.