Djokovic Continues His Progress on Clay

Novak Djokovic, the world No3 and the most successful player this year, has no need to radically change his style in order to adjust to the clay-court challenge. It is a question of minor tinkering, and after winning this year's Australian Open the 20-year-old Serb will walk through the gates at Roland Garros in just over two weeks with a genuine chance of the French Open title.

Last year he reached the semi-finals at only his third attempt, and every minute he seems to grow in authority, a player destined to be the world No1, and perhaps quicker than most expected. "Obviously hard court is my preferred surface but I think I have a good enough game to challenge the best players in the world on clay," Djokovic said.

This afternoon he reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open for the second successive year with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the Russian Igor Andreev, thereby moving a step closer to yet another showdown with Roger Federer on Saturday.

It was not easy. Andreev is at his best on this surface, with a twirling forehand that sends the ball leaping off the clay. Djokovic, as he had the previous day, continued to complain about the state of the courts, their lack of clay and their slipperiness. Even Federer toppled over at one point, which is one of the more unusual sights in tennis, so wonderful is his movement and balance.

The Swiss reached the last eight with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, the tallest player on the tour, although it was the defeat of Rafael Nadal, only his second in 105 matches on clay since 2005, that remained the talking point yesterday, with Federer declaring that he "felt bad for Rafa". Djokovic was a little more pragmatic: "To lose is part of sport."

For the moment it is being assumed that the blister that prevented Nadal running properly against fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero will only be a temporary hindrance, although for both Federer and Djokovic it was a small sign of vulnerability and one which they will hope to feed prior to Roland Garros. After all, this was the first of the major clay-court tournaments - the French Open, Monte Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg - that the Spaniard had started and not reached the final since Hamburg 2003 when he was 16 years old.