Djokovic advances to 2ed round at Australian Open

Novak Djokovic kicked off his title defense at the Australian Open with an embattled 7-6(5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 win over Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany on Monday evening.

Djokovic got off to a good start and secured the first break of the match to get a 42 lead. He went on earning his first set point at Struff’s service game at 5- 2, but the German was able to stay in the opening set by providing well-placed first serves.

From then on, Struff continuously raised his level, went for aggressive approaches, and even managed to get back on track with a break to 30. In the following tie-break, however, Djokovic steadied himself and benefited by nervous displays from his opponent.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion dominated in the second set but was under serious pressure in the upcoming third set. Struff started playing with even more risk, but also less fear. He was able to produce 14 winners, win 7 out 11 points at the net and eventually broke Djokovic’s serve three times in the third set. Therefore, it was no big surprise that the 29- year- old German was able to force a fourth set against the World No. 2 from Serbia, who started being frustrated and hitting a comparatively high amount of unforced errors.

For the first time since 2006, Djokovic dropped a set in his opening match at the Australian Open. After the Belgrade native recovered, he started crushing Struff’s second serve (just 1/9 points won) and reduced his errors again to eventually extend his winning streak in the 2020 ATP Tour season to seven matches. Djokovic hit 44 winners along the way into the second round. It was his 900th tour-level win.

“I’m obviously very proud of all the achievements. But at the same time, I try to remind myself how grateful I must be. I’m still playing on a very high level with the sport I truly love,” Djokovic said.

Things went better for another German, namely Philipp Kohlschreiber, who not only won the Canberra Challenger last week, but also played a brilliant match today to secure a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 palm over World No. 106 Marcos Giron after almost two hours on court.