Favourite Djokovic must stay focused in tricky last-eight tie

Novak Djokovic is still the man to beat in the US Open – he was 6-5 to retain his crown in the wake of his straight-sets victory over Brit Kyle Edmund on Sunday – but the world number one faces his toughest test of the tournament so far when he faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals in New York today.

Often in this match-up punters would be eyeing up a Djokovic straight-sets win. That could still happen, but Tsonga has performed well enough in his victories over Kevin Anderson and Jack Sock at Flushing Meadows in recent days to suggest that today’s rumble may be closer than some of their previous meetings.

It’s obviously a concern that Djokovic has won 13 of their last 14 clashes, but it’s just possible that Tsonga may be playing close to the standard that took him to the Montreal Masters title two years ago.