Novak Djokovic kicked off his US Open marketing campaign with a robust 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 court docket on this opening match.
Novak took management from the very starting. With solely 4 unforced errors and two stable breaks of serve, he shortly received the primary set 6-1 towards the 19-year-old up-and-coming house hope, who struggled to search out his rhythm and made many errors.
The second set was extra aggressive. Novak missed break possibilities early on and needed to battle off three break factors within the sixth recreation. At 4-5, he even confronted a set level however managed to carry on and stage the rating at 5-5. The tie-break was filled with twists – the primary six factors have been all mini-breaks, however Novak then received 4 factors in a row to take the tie-break 7-3 and go up 2-0 in units.
Although 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 type 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 stated. “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 all the time do higher nevertheless it’s a good way to begin this 12 months’s marketing campaign.”
Match statistics: aces (7-1), double faults (4-7), winners (26-18), unforced errors (34-36), complete factors received (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).
Photograph: Profimedia
