Melbourne, Jan 18:
For the second time at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic treads on thorny paths, yet the Serbian jaggurnet rolled on at the Australian Open here on Wednesday.
The World No.1 denied home favorite Alexei Popyrin from running away with the match when he saved four set points from 0/40 at 4-5 in the third set before clinching the second-round victory with the scoreline 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
The momentum shifted in Djokovic’s favor in the tie-breaker as he managed to put more balls into the court than he did. But, Popyrin equally came up with the right game plan and served big.
Djokovic, who also struggled to consistently produce his trademark game plan in the first match against Dino Prizmic, also found himself incompatible against Popyrin. The Aussie made the Serbian work hard to get going but kept his cool at crucial moments to extend his Australian Open winning streak to 30 matches.
Djokovic was convincing on his first serves and won 82 percent of points, but the worrying factor for the Serb was his unforced errors and would like to mend them for his third-round contest against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Amidst this, the Pepperstone ATP Rankings are at stake for Djokovic this fortnight, when both Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev could displace the Serb from top ranking. Notwithstanding these concerns, Djokovic stayed on board to grab a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title.
Etcheverry will be Djokovic’s next opponent at Melbourne Park after the 30th seeded Argentine earlier defeated Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The World No. 1 leads Etcheverry 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, having triumphed at ATP Masters 1000 events in Rome and Paris in 2023.
