Defending champion Novak Djokovic on Wednesday reached the third round of the US Open as Laslo Djere retired in the third set, but said he would have to do better to win a fifth title on the hard courts of New York.
Djokovic was up 6-4, 6-4, 2-0 when Djere pulled the plug on a gritty encounter that saw both men summon the physio to Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It’s not what we want to see,” Djokovic said. “He’s such a good player in these conditions and the second set should have been his, he was 4-2 up.”
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA Today
“I don’t know if [my] winning the second set probably put more burden on him,” he said.
Djokovic notched his 90th US Open match victory, becoming the first man to win 90 at all four Grand Slams, but it was a battle until the minute Djere called it quits.
Djokovic grabbed the first break of the match to take the first set 6-4 after a tense hour then sought treatment for trouble on his right side.
Photo: AFP
Djere, the only player to take a set off Djokovic at last year’s US Open, gained the first break of the second set and with a 4-2 lead had two more break points that he could not convert.
However, Djokovic won the next six games, Djere receiving treatment on his abdomen before Djokovic closed out the second.
“Overall it was a big fight — over two hours for two sets,” Djokovic said. “I served awful. So playing without the serve, you have to grind, you have to run. I had to rely on my baseline game.”
Photo: AFP
The Serbian superstar, coming off an emotional Paris Olympics triumph, next faces Australian Alexei Popyrin, who he beat at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.
Women’s defending champion Coco Gauff overcame her own struggles on serve to beat 37-year-old Tatjana Maria 6-4, 6-0.
It was an uneven performance from 20-year-old Gauff, who has endured an erratic season since capturing her maiden major in New York.
She put just 44 percent of her first serves in play and had nine double faults, but the 99th-ranked Maria could not capitalize and Gauff won the final seven games to seal the win.
“I think I played well overall,” Gauff said. “I think if I could have served better that first set would have been a lot easier.”
Djokovic and Gauff missed the worst conditions of a steamy day that saw tournament organizers invoke the extreme weather rule allowing mid-match breaks.
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, runner-up to Gauff last year, did not have to take advantage, polishing off Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-1 in an hour.
“I told myself you have to stay focused from the first point to the last point and make sure you’re not going to stay here a crazy number of hours,” Sabalenka said.
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 victory over France’s Alexandre Muller.
“I am happy to be done in three sets, to have some rest as it is very hot and tough conditions,” said Zverev, who said he felt fine, but “was at some point very wet.”
Zverev next faces Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry, whose efforts to stay hydrated backfired during his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over compatriot Francisco Cerundolo.
“You had to hydrate well, try to take as many salts and hydrates as possible and I overdid it, that’s why I ended up vomiting,” said Etcheverry, who fired 23 aces to finally seal the win after more than four hours. “It’s dangerous not only for the players, but also for the public.”
In the first round of women’s doubles at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and partner Veronika Kudermetova of Russia defeated Denmark’s Clara Tauson and Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, but Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and partner Olivia Gadecki of Australia were beaten 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1 by Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Alycia Parks of the US.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium were to play after press time last night against Kristina Mladenovic of France and China’s Zhang Shuai.
In the second round of the mixed doubles, Hsieh and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland defeated Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina and Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway 6-2, 6-3. Hsieh and Zielinski advanced to the second round after US pair Katie Volynets and Rajeev Ram pulled out of ahead of their first-round match.
Chan and partner Austin Krajicek of the US were to play after press time last night against Australia’s Matthew Ebden and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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