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I'm one of the favorites, says upbeat Djokovic
World number six Novak Djokovic ranked himself a title contender for this year's French Open and feels ready to challenge the twice-defending champion Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer at the clay-court tournament.
Djokovic, sixth seeded, cruised through to the quarterfinals on Monday after notching up a comfortable 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) win over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and will meet unseeded Russian Igor Andreev, who knocked out Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
"Last year, I honestly didn't expect to be in the quarter-finals. I was not the favorite and I won against really good players that played really good tennis. But I came to the quarter-final match against Nadal, I was already physically exhausted," the 20-year-old Djokovic said at the press conference.
"I didn't have a goal to win against Nadal last year and I think this year is much different, and I am one of the favorites."
The Serb also reached the quarter-finals last year, only to retire to Nadal with a back injury after his giant-killing run including Fernando Gonzalez and Tommy Haas.
The up-and-coming youngster downed Nadal in straight sets earlier this year on his way to the Sony Ericsson title in Miami, which is his first ATP Masters title.
Nadal now leads 3-1, including two wins on clay plus one on hard.
Disappointed with his first three rounds against lower ranked opponents, including a gruelling four-hour full-set victory over France's Olivier Patience in the previous round, Djokovic says he is finally content with his standard of play.
"I cannot say I made a great first week. I had first three matches I played against the players who are much lower ranked than me, and I didn't play my best tennis.
"But I'm very happy about today's match. I played against a player who prefers the surface, and he won against David Ferrer and some other players.
"He was in good shape and has a lot of confidence and I managed to beat him in straight sets. It's a positive thing for me
I'm one of the favorites, says upbeat Djokovic(Over)
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