Djokovic, in full control & moving freely, reaches Australian Open R3
Novak Djokovic cruised to a convincing second-round victory Thursday at the Australian Open, where the record 10-time champion downed Francesco Maestrelli 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Playing just his second match since winning his 101st tour-level title in Athens in November, the 38-year-old moved efficiently as ever and struck the ball cleanly throughout the afternoon, a positive sign for the Serbian’s form in the early stages of the tournament.
Djokovic, who claimed his 100th match win at the Australian Open in the opening round, needed seven set points to clinch the 47-minute opener. Rarely relinquishing control in baseline rallies, Djokovic will be pleased with his dominant serving display, having won 86 per cent (43/50) of his first-serve points.
When faced with two break points in his opening service game of the second set, Djokovic drew forehand return errors from the 23-year-old qualifier, who before the match called his clash against the 24-time major titlist “one of the most exciting things of my life”.
Djokovic is now one win shy of 400 victories at Slam level. Should he defeat his next opponent, Botic van de Zandschulp or Shang Juncheng, Djokovic will become the first player to record 400 major match wins. Van de Zandschulp stunned Djokovic last year at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, tying their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1. Djokovic has never faced Shang.
Making his 21st appearance at Melbourne Park, Djokovic is seeded to meet Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals and two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in the last four.
Musetti flew past countryman Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to match his career-best result at the season’s first major. The fifth seed created 23 break chances, converting six, according to Infosys Stats. Musetti, 23, will next meet 31st seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Czech Tomas Machac.
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