Djokovic Persists Through In Rome Opener
Djokovic Persists Through In Rome Opener
Four-time champion Novak Djokovic persisted past a confident clay-court player on Tuesday during his Internazionali BNL d’Italia opener, beating British qualifier Aljaz Bedene 7-6(2), 6-2 on Court Centrale in Rome.
Djokovic is coming off his best result at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament this season, a semi-final run at the Mutua Madrid Open last week (l. to eventual champion Nadal). But the World No. 2 had to overcome some early rust against Bedene, who has enjoyed his best stretch on clay during recent months, including a final run at the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest last month.
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The Serbian was broken at the start of the match, but quickly recovered Bedene’s advantage. They both held serve until the tie-break, when Djokovic outplayed the British No. 3 Bedene, who netted a forehand to conclude the 56-minute opener.
Djokovic then broke Bedene again to start the second set, coming through in a 13-point game that finished when Bedene couldn’t handle a return of serve from the Serbian. The 29-year-old Djokovic clinched his fourth match point opportunity when Bedene sailed a forehand long after one hour and 46 minutes.
Bedene, in addition to reaching the Budapest final on clay, also won back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on clay last month. Djokovic, who won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Rome in 2008, ’11, ’14-15, will meet one of two Spaniards in the third round, 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta or Roberto Bautista Agut.
Carreno Busta evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Frenchman Gilles Simon at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. The 25-year-old Carreno Busta won 76 per cent of his first-serve points in the 75-minute first-round win.
Bautista Agut broke lucky loser Alexandr Dolgopolov four times to advance 6-4, 6-2. Dolgopolov, who won the Argentina Open title on clay in February (d. Nishikori), replaced Aussie Nick Kyrgios in the main draw. Kyrgios withdrew because of a hip injury, the same injury that forced him to withdraw from doubles last week in Madrid.