By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Defending champion Novak Djokovic fired 15 aces stopping Sam Querrey, 7-5, 6-1, to cruise to his eighth straight win in Cincinnati.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
Novak Djokovic sure knows how to enliven the neighborhood.
The world No. 1 prepared for his return racing around the suburban Cincinnati community where he rents a home.
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Shedding opening-game rust, the reigning Cincinnati champion ran Sam Querrey right out of the Lindner Family Tennis Center, 7-5, 6-1, scoring his eighth straight win.
Djokovic saved three of four break points and banged his 15th ace to seal a 78-minute victory in style.
It was the 32-year-old Serbian’s first match since he fought off two championship points out-dueling 20-time Grand Slam king Roger Federer in the longest Wimbledon final in history to capture his 16th career Grand Slam.
Last August, Djokovic defeated seven-time Cincinnati champion Federer in straight sets to collect his first Western & Southern Open championship and make history as the first man to collect all nine Masters 1000 titles.
Rust was evident at the outset today as Djokovic coughed up three double faults then couldn’t control a net-cord shot dropping serve in the opening game.
"It was quite a nervous start," Djokovic said. "I just didn't feel the rhythm of the serve. Then you start overthinking, and it's obviously not great being down a break and having one of the big servers on the tour against you. But I just stayed calm as much as I could, and he played a sort of a bad game. I think when he was 3-2 up, he kind of handed me the break back. Once I was back in play, I started to feel more comfortable, had more looks on his serves, and after the first set I just felt big relief."
Wild card Querrey stunned Djokovic 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5), in their last meeting at the 2016 Wimbledon and knows the importance of holding serve against the game’s premier returner.
Through his two opening service games, Querrey was effective controlling the court with his forehand but he sprayed a forehand in the sixth game as Djokovic broke back.
Serving to force a tie break at 5-6, Querrey surprised the top seed coming in then caressed a challenging backhand half-volley to deny set point.
On the next point, the 6’6” American again moved forward only this time he couldn’t control the volley.
The elastic Djokovic is so skilled redirecting deep returns off heavy serves and he did it again coaxing a Querrey error to take the opening set with a shout and a clenched fist.
Shaky starts to both sets marked Djokovic’s return from a month off. Querrey hit a fine backhand pass down the line that helped him earned double break point to start the second set.
Djokovic denied both break points then kicked an angled ace out wide withstanding the stress to open the second set with a hard-fought hold and affirmative nod toward co-coach Goran Ivanisevic and buddy Janko Tipsarevic.
Querrey cranked a 90 mph winner to earn double break point for the second straight time. Djokovic responded again with serving precision.
Amping up his emotional intensity, Djokovic barked at himself after one miscue, but continued to make the former Wimbledon semifinalist play. Djokovic turned his hips and shoulders into a curling forehand down the line breaking for 3-1.
Despite the rocky three double-fault opening game and the fact he faced break points in each of his two service games to start the second set, Djokovic found his range on serve. The 16-time Grand Slam champion snapped an ace stamping a love hold for 4-1.
"I had the nervous start, because, I mean, I didn't play a match for four weeks, I think," Djokovic said. "So it took me a little bit of time to really adjust, to also hit big serve that was coming sometimes more than 135 miles an hour. I made three double faults in the opening game. Didn't have the greatest of starts. So it was a tricky match, quality opponent, big challenge. But I'm happy, you know, to be tested right away from the start and hopefully the next performance will be even better."
Querrey’s struggles to defend his second serve cost him another break. Djokovic cornered the American on his weaker two-handed wing with a series of crosscourt backhands. That two-handed torment caused Querrey to poke a backhand into net as Djokovic broke for 5-1.
Djokovic drilled one final ace to close and will play either 13th-seeded John Isner or Pablo Carreno Busta next.
Earlier, Daniil Medvedev, who is coming off successive finals in Montreal and Washington, D.C., broke down Kyle Edmund's backhand in a 6-2, 7-5, victory. Medvedev, who leads the ATP in hard-court victories, raised his 2019 hard-court record to 26-8.
"I'm trying to make people miss with kind of shots that they are not used to playing, I would say," Medvedev said. "Many, many matches I won just because people don't get used to it and just miss many shots."
The ninth-seeded Russian will play Benoit Paire next. Paire won the first set, 6-4, when opponent Fernando Verdasco retired from their first-round match.
Frances Tiafoe, who has suffered 10 opening-round exits this season, showed stiff resilience fighting back from 2-5 down in the first set then fending off four set points in the tie break sparking a 7-6 (7), 6-3 victory over Gael Monfils.
"Obviously I'm happy I won, but it was just to play a match and feel no pain," said Monfils, who rallied from 3-6 down in the tie break. "Obviously I couldn't play last week because of injuries. I was happy to be able just to come out here and play a match, which is obviously very physical when you're playing Gaël."
The 21-year-old Tiafoe moves into a second-round meeting with 11th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.
Stan Wawrinka edged Grigor Dimitrov, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
It was Wawrinka's fifth straight win over Dimitrov and second in as many weeks following his 6-4, 6-4 victory in Montreal last week. The three-time Grand Slam champion hit 10 aces with no double faults while Dimitrov pumped 10 aces with nine double faults.
Wawrinka, whose last loss to Dimirov came at the 2016 Cincinnati, will play Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev next.