By Chris Oddo | Tuesday January 15, 2019
The six-time champion eased into the second round on Tuesday to set a clash with former Aussie Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Julian Finney/Getty
Novak Djokovic is back at his familiar stomping grounds in Melbourne, and he’s moved through to the second round with an impressive 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over American qualifier Mitchell Krueger.
"It was a very competitive match," said Djokovic. "I had to really work hard. We were both pumped--a lot of emotions on the court."
The six-time champion was in fine fettle for much of the contest, if there’s anything that he might regret it would be the fact that he had so much difficulty converting break points against the 25-year-old Texan.
It was actually Krueger who drew first blood in the opening set when he broke for 2-1, but Djokovic was quick to reply, breaking back with a forehand winner for 2-2.
From there the World No.1 set the tone with stellar serving and dominance from the baseline.
He broke critically for 5-3 and served the opening set out, closing a deuce game with another forehand winner.
Djokovic got some wind in his sails in the second set and broke for 1-0 on his fourth break point of the game, and again for 4-1 when Krueger double-faulted.
After closing the second set Krueger mounted one last stand and saved seven consecutive break points through the first two-plus service games of the set, but the damn let loose in the fifth game—Djokovic broke and cruised to the finish line to close affairs by winning the final five games.
The Serb improves to 62-8 lifetime at the Australian Open and 259-41 lifetime at the majors.
He’ll face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Djokovic and Tsonga have met 22 times with the Serb winning 16 and dropping six. They have met twice in Australian with Djokovic winning the pair’s 2008 final in four sets and Tsonga getting revenge in 2010 when he defeated Djokovic in five sets in the quarterfinal.
Djokovic finished with 42 winners against 20 for Krueger. He converted six of 20 break points and won 41 of 48 of his first-serve points while saving one of two break points faced.