By Richard Pagliaro | Monday January 2, 2017
"It's the best match I've played this year," joked Novak Djokovic, who broke serve four times in a 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff.
Photo credit: Qatar Tennis Federation
Novak Djokovic snapped out of a sleepy start with a streaking wake-up call.
Staring down a 1-5 deficit, Djokovic sprinted forward for a drop shot and poked a backhand pass crosscourt.
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The shot incited the crowd and ignited Djokovic.
The defending Doha champion recovered the slow start scoring a 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in his Qatar Exxon Mobil opener.
Djokovic served 71 percent and won 33 of 39 points played on his first serve.
“It’s the best match I’ve played so far this year," Djokovic joked afterward. "I’m very pleased, obviously not with the beginning. It was quite slow from my side. But credit to Struff for being very aggressive and hitting big serves.
"It took me a little bit of time to adjust to his serves and try to get the right rhythm on court. From 1-5 down, I played a pretty good match."
It was Djokovic’s 14th consecutive win over a German opponent and prompted a congratulatory tweet from former coach Boris Becker.
No. 4-seeded David Goffin followed with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Dutchman Robin Haase. Goffin saved 10 of 12 break points to set up a second-round match with either Fernando Verdasco or Vasek Pospisil.
It was the first official meeting between the 63rd-ranked Struff and second-seeded Serbian, who hit together at the Patrick Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France during the offseason.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion said the pace of Struff's shots sometimes forced him to counter off the back foot.
"(He's a) strong guy, tall guy, big serve," Djokovic said. "I mean he was serving today average over 200 kilometers per hour. If he puts a high percentage of first serves in, it’s not easy to break him. You kind of have to try to read his serve and sometimes put yourself in a good position.
"As the match progressed, I felt like I was more comfortable returning and also playing. We never played against each other so it’s obviously different training and having crowd in a general match."
Struff smacked a backhand crosscourt completing a love break for 3-0 lead. Struff held for 4-0, eventually extending his lead to 5-1.
Then Djokovic began to find his range and rhythm. That darting retrieval of a counter drop shot helped spike the Australian Open champion’s energy level.
Playing brilliant defense to extend points, Djokovic turned offensive rapping a diagonal backhand winner to earn five set points after 44 minutes of play. The second seed slashed a heavy serve wide to close the opening set.
Djokovic drilled a forehand down the line to open the court then wrong-footed Struff with an inside-out forehand winner on match point.
The world No. 2 will play Horacio Zeballos next. The 71st-ranked Zeballos battled by Florian Mayer, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (9), in two hours, 37 minutes.
Djokovic joins world No. 1 Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as one of three former champions in the Doha field. No. 5-seeded Tsonga will face Andrey Kuznetsov tomorrow followed by the top-seeded Murray taking on 69th-ranked Jeremy Chardy.
Dustin Brown did not drop serve overcoming Facundo Bagnis 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-4. Qualifier Radek Stepanek held a 6-4, 5-3 lead over Marcos Baghdatis when the eighth-seeded Cypriot retired. Jiri Vesely fired 13 aces dismissing wild card Anil Yuksel 6-2, 6-3.