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The top seed and world No.1, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, found himself to everyone’s surprise, embroiled in the longest first-round match of his career, most certainly didn’t want to get caught up in another four-hour battle when he faced Australia’s Alexei Popyrin on the Rod Laver Arena show court.
I didn’t do anything special – he was a better player for a set and a half. Things changed around and the momentum shifted in the tie-break. Novak Djokovic
Popyrin though, no doubt thought that the Djokovic game might be more vulnerable these days considering the success of the 18-year-old Croat qualifier Dino Przmic last Sunday.
Up to a point, he was right, and managed to take a set off the Serbian before capitulating 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 to set up a third-round meeting with Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the Argentine who might well have brought retirement thoughts to Andy Murray.
Djokovic made a strong start as he shrugged off some powerful serving from Popyrin to create three break point opportunities in his opening two return games.
As the pair matched each other from the baseline, Djokovic made his breakthrough in the eighth game to go 5-3 up.
The ten-time AO champion comfortably held to take the opening set and looked to be on a roll, but the 22-year-old Popyrin had other ideas as he upped his own game in the second.
The Aussie opened his shoulders and, in the process, extracted a series of errors from him and was rewarded with a break of the Djokovic serve to take a 3-1 lead only to be broken back in the ninth, but he reciprocated in the next to level the match!
Last year’s champion was in more trouble in the third set as Popyrin kept holding serve and even had four set points in the tenth game.
But Popyrin failed to capitalize on the opportunity as he became cautious which allowed Djokovic back into the match.
The Serb didn’t need a second invitation and proved too strong both in the tiebreak and the fourth set as he sealed a place in the third round, but not before he had an exchange with a heckler in the crowd when leading 4-2.
“[I’m] still trying to find form but in the early rounds you play players with nothing to lose,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview after converting his fifth match point.
“They come out to try and play their best tennis and I think both my first and second-round opponents were really great quality tennis players and I managed to find a way to win in four.”
He then added: “I don’t think I played at the highest level.
“I didn’t do anything special – he was a better player for a set and a half. Things changed around and the momentum shifted in the tie-break.”
As mentioned, next up for Djokovic is Etcheverry, who overcame the French entertainer Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Stefanos Tsitsipas roars his relief at securing a third round place
(Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images)
But Djokovic wasn’t the only player to survive a tough test from an Australian as Stefanos Tsitsipas can confirm after prevailing against Jordan Thompson, also in four sets.
Tsitsipas was forced to save multiple break points in the fourth set and only just managed to stop the match slipping into a decider by winning the fourth-set tie-break 4-6 7-6(6) 6-2 7-6(4) after three-hours and 36-minutes on Margaret Court Arena.
“You live for these kinds of matches; the intensity was there today. We were both able to peak in terms of our tennis at some point during the match,” Tsitsipas said.
“The fact that I can go to sleep tonight and know I gave it all makes me extremely happy right now.
“I really executed my game plan tremendously and at the highest peak on the tiebreak, and I was able to keep it going on a very nice flow for me, especially when I got the early mini break in the tiebreaker. I really felt that inner power come out. It really showed in the next few points,” Tsitsipas explained in his post-match press conference.
He will face the Frenchman Luca van Assche in the third round after he put out the Italian 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who recovered from 2-1 down to win 6-3 3-6 6-7(5) 6-3 6-0.
American 17th seed Frances Tiafoe was another shock victim as he fell to a 6-4 6-4 7-6(5) loss against Czech world number 75 Tomas Machac.
Tiafoe’s American compatriots, 12th seed Taylor Fritz and 16th seed Ben Shelton claimed wins against French Lucky Loser Hugo Gaston and Australia’s Christopher O’Connell, respectively.
Elsewhere, Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev needed just 99-minutes to beat American Chris Eubanks 6-4 6-4 6-4,
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