By Erik Gudris | Monday, August 25, 2014
Top seed Novak Djokovic wasted no time in reaching the second round with a near flawless performance Monday night.
Photo Credit: AP
Novak Djokovic is back.
After struggling during the hard court events leading up to New York, the US Open top seed posted a near perfect performance in his opening round match on Monday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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Facing him was Argentina's Diego Schwartzman. What made this an even more difficult task for the Argentine was that this was his first ever main draw hard court match of his career against one of the sport's greats.
That was clear from the start when Djokovic earned an early break in the opening set and never looked back. In 26 minutes, the set was his 6-1.
That prompted this unexpected message on Twitter from a former champion.
Schwartzman did manage to have a moment of glory early in the second set when he hit this winner.
Not to be outdone, however, Djokovic responded with an incredible around the net post shot while up 3-1. Djokovic later served out the set with an ace for a two sets to love lead.
Schwartzman played an agressive rally to earn his first break point of the night early in the third set. Only to watch Djokovic snuff it out with an ace and then later hold for 1-all. Djokovic later broke to take a 2-1 lead.
The goal for Djokovic now was to keep his focus on the finish line despite the one-sided nature of the match heading into the midnight hour. Djokovic fought off two more break points against him later up 3-2, but a wayward double fault from the Serb would put Schwartzman back on level terms at 3-all.
That didn't last long as Djokovic broke right back at love.
Despite Schwartzman's best efforts, it was not enough in the end. Djokovic served out the 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win with help from a let cord winner just before midnight struck in the Big Apple.
"I hope it was midnight delight for all of you," Djokovic told those in the crowd who stuck around who responded with a big cheer.
Djokovic next faces France's Paul Henri-Mathieu in the next round.