Novak made a winning start to his Wimbledon campaign.
Seventh seed Novak Djokovic defeated China’s Yibing Wu, the world no.102, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to book his place in the second round of the year’s third Grand Slam.
The match lasted three hours and 12 minutes, with Novak needing to work hard against an inspired opponent who pushed him throughout the contest.
Novak got off to the perfect start, breaking serve in the opening game of the match. That early break proved to be enough to win the first set. He held serve confidently and showed great composure in the final game, saving two break points before closing out the set 6-4 after 38 minutes.
Wu raised his level in the second set and made things much tougher for the Serbian star. The set was decided late on when, serving at 5-6, Novak missed a game point that would have forced a tie-break. Wu took full advantage, earning his second break point, which also served as a set point, and converted it to level the match at one set all with a 7-5 set win.
The third set was another closely fought battle, lasting 58 minutes. Wu continued to play aggressive tennis, but Novak made the crucial move in the ninth game. He created two break points and converted the second to move ahead 5-4. Serving for the set, Novak saved another break point before wrapping it up to take a two-sets-to-one lead.
Wu refused to give up in the fourth set and kept putting pressure on Novak’s serve. Djokovic saved two break points in the fourth game and another four in the sixth to stay level. After surviving those difficult moments, Novak made his opponent pay for the missed chances by breaking serve in the ninth game. He then served out the match with confidence to secure his place in the next round.
Match statistics: aces (15-15), double faults (0-1), winners (35-54), unforced errors (26-40), total points won (136-123).
In the second round on Wednesday, Novak will face Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE, ATP no.87), who advanced with a straight-sets victory over French qualifier Hugo Gaston.
It will be the 15th meeting between the two players. Novak leads their H2H 12-2 and goes into the match having won their last 11 encounters.
Photo: Profimedia
