MELBOURNE PARK, Australia – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic rallied from an early break of serve to capture eight consecutive games to topple Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to make his way into the third round of the Australian Open On Thursday.
“A win is a win, you know, however it comes to you, noted the Serbian. “I try obviously to not underestimate any opponents in early rounds. This is a Grand Slam, the most prestigious ‑‑ one of the four most prestigious tournaments in our sport, and everybody has a lot of motivation to perform their best, especially on the center court, on the big stage.
“Santiago came out early hitting the ball quite flat. But I knew that, you know, sooner or later he’s going to drop the rhythm and I just have to hang in there. I’ve done a good job.”
Up next for the defending champion, is Frenchman Nicolas Mahut who fell to John Isner in the longest tennis match in history at Wimbledon in 2010. Djokovic is on a 16-match win streak in majors dating back to Wimbledon 2011.
Fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain had to battle past American Ryan Sweeting 6-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has advanced with a win over Ricardo Mello 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. He said that he is happy with the victory,” It’s always good to win. So I’m still in the tournament and I have a third round to play now.”
Tsonga went on to try and explain why he plays well in Melbourne. “Maybe the condition are good for me. It’s pretty warm. The surface also ‑‑ you know, it’s not really quick, not really fast. So maybe it’s good for my game.”
Canadian and 23 rd seed Milos Raonic needed four sets to drop Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
I didn’t serve too well,” said Raonic, but I managed to take care of my serve, which is the most important part. He was doing a good thing. My goal was to make him hit a lot of volleys when “he came in. He was doing a good thing there. I was struggling a little bit, I don’t know why, when I was running forward. I don’t know why I was struggling exactly.
“At the beginning he started with the volleying. He started well and just put a lot more pressure on me because I know he can play really well. My goal was really just to stick with him till I get my opportunities.
“I felt like I was getting a lot of even games, like 30‑All or 15‑All. I was really the one letting it slip up too many times so I was quite frustrated with it.”
Also advancing to the third round from the top half of the draw so far on Thursday were No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, Federico Gil who upset 26th seed Marcel Granollers, and No 27 Juan Ignacio Chela. Frenchman Michael Llodra upset 32nd seed Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-4.
Karen Pestaina for Tennis Panorama News