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Muller fired 83 winners

Đoković had minor problems with Nieminen in the second set, but then won nine games in a row. Muller barely beat Lorenzi in two days, even though the Italian played the hardcourt last week. He gave a hard time to Novak in Melbourne, but the serve won't matter as much here

PBZ Zagreb Indoors

The goal is always to play better with each new match, to improve the form as the tournament goes on. Those that know how to win a Grand Slam keep saying that, but that group isn't big. None of the "great four" showed anything fantastic, including the first player of the world. He won in three sets, but had some problems. Nieminen had a break-ball for 5-1 in the second set, and a set-serve for 3-0, and three game-balls for 5-5. He lost that game, and soon after the second set. After the defeat, he concluded that nothing is simple against Novak, even when you have an advantage that big. 

Result-wise, the other two sets went as expected. Novak started the match with a break, and increased the advantage till the end of the set. He turned the second set around with nine games won in a row. That solved the third set. The Finnish kept fighting, wasn't giving up, but that didn't help much. He just made the match longer and allowed the viewers to enjoy the decent tennis the world's best player showed.

- It was a good test considering I haven't played since Rome. Nieminen is an experienced opponent, and he was in the top for a long time, so he resisted really well. Especially in the second set when he played better than I did. It surprised me a bit because he played much more aggressively than he usually does, but I came back and caught the right rhythm. I was focused, I improved my level lately, and I'm content with my performance considering I didn't play since Rome - Novak commented his 24th win in a row.

He found out who his opponent is only a day later because Muller and Lorenzi didn't manage to finish their match before the dark. They took a break by the beginning of the fifth set. It was an unusual match, which is not surprising given that they were a good lot for each other. Muller rarely wins on clay, and the Italian rarely wins on the Grand Slams. The Italian's nervousness decided the result.

The fourth set was the most interesting. Muller missed three set-balls and allowed Lorenzi to come back. The Italian had 4-1 in the tie-break. He came close to fulfilling his goal, but didn't win the match-ball, and Muller secured spending at least one more night in Paris. Even though Muller missed 2-0 in the fifth set, he had a serve advantage and that made Lorenzi nervous, which is why he lost. He didn't win a single point at the serve for staying in the match. Now his score is 2-16 on the Grand Slams, and both times he won, it was against the injured opponents.

Muller will now face Đoković. He resisted him well in Melbourne. True, his serve had a far bigger role in those conditions, so he managed to make it longer than two sets. Đoković ended up celebrating after three sets, and he didn't shy away from complimenting Muller:

- Muller deserves respect. He's a great server and if I didn't save those break-balls in the third set, it could have been dangerous. You don't want to catch up with the opponent's break advantage against a server as dangerous as that. He might not have the bombs like Raonic or Isner, or their height, but he starts the duel great with his serves, and can hit odd angles.

Of course, it's a different story on the clay. Besides, Lorenzi played hardcourt last week, and had 2-0 in the sets. He lost to Mayer convincingly last week, and barely beat Montanes in Estoril, a player who's struggling even at the challengers now. If nothing else, he showed that his aggressiveness is not the problem when he faced Lorenzi. He scored 83 winners, and he's got nothing to lose against Novak. Like anyone else this season.