Novak Djokovic kicked off his US Open marketing campaign with a powerful efficiency. Within the first spherical, he defeated American Learner Tien (ATP #50) in straight units 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2 and moved on to the R2.
The seventh seed and four-time US Open champion spent two hours and 25 minutes on courtroom on this opening match.
Novak took management from the very starting. With solely 4 unforced errors and two strong breaks of serve, he shortly gained the primary set 6-1 in opposition to the 19-year-old up-and-coming dwelling hope, who struggled to seek out his rhythm and made many errors.
The second set was extra aggressive. Novak missed break probabilities early on and needed to combat off three break factors within the sixth recreation. At 4-5, he even confronted a set level however managed to carry on and degree the rating at 5-5. The tie-break was stuffed with twists – the primary six factors had been all mini-breaks, however Novak then gained 4 factors in a row to take the tie-break 7-3 and go up 2-0 in units.
Despite the fact that the Serbian star misplaced his serve for the primary time early within the third set, he shortly regained management and wrapped up the set and match 6-2.
“It was an odd sort of match. The primary set was 20 minutes after which the second was one hour and 20, so fairly the other units we performed,” Djokovic mentioned. “It was key for me to carry my nerves within the second set and clinch it in a tie-break. After that I began feeling higher. I can at all times do higher but it surely’s an effective way to begin this yr’s marketing campaign.”
Match statistics: aces (7-1), double faults (4-7), winners (26-18), unforced errors (34-36), whole factors gained (108-75).
Subsequent up for Novak is one other American, qualifier Zachary Svajda (ATP #145), who defeated Hungarian Zsombor Piros (6-4, 6-2, 7-5).
Picture: Profimedia
