World No. 2 Novak Djokovic extended his Australian Open winning streak to 23 matches with a 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory over no.98-ranked Leonardo Mayer on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
The match lasted one hour and 47 minutes.
With temperatures surpassing 40 Celsius, Nole appeared determined to expend as little energy as possible.
The three-time defending champion made a confident start as he raced to a 6-0, 2-0 lead before the Argentine won his first game.
The third set went with serve till the ninth game when the Serb drew on his experience and broke Mayer once again. Novak converted his second match point to advance.
“The conditions were not easy…you don’t want to spend too much time in the heat, you want to win as fast as possible. Knowing I was playing a day match, I prepared myself mentally,” Djokovic said. “I’m definitely satisfied with my performance today, it was better than my first match … hopefully I’m going to continue raising my level.”
Match statistics: aces (12-3), double faults (2-7), winners (30-14), unforced errors (11-39), total points won (93-59).
Novak will face world no.49, Denis Istomin (b. no.30 seed Dmitry Tursunov), for a place in the last 16. Djokovic has a perfect 3-0 H2H record against the Uzbek.
The 26-year-old Belgrade native hasn’t lost a match since the US Open final and is looking to win his fifth straight title, following triumphs in Beijing, Shanghai, Paris and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to close the 2013 season.
Photo: Getty Images
