MADRID, 14 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, world number one, has suffered to beat Croatian Dino Prizmic this Sunday (6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4) in his debut at the Australian Open, first 'Grand Slam' of the season and in which he aspires to lift his eleventh title at Melbourne Park and the 25th 'big' of his career.
Four hours and one minute, the longest first round of 'Grand Slam' of his career, the Balkan needed at the Rod Laver Arena to end the resistance of Prizmic, 18 years old, current Roland Garros junior champion and debutant in a final painting of a 'great'.
After winning the first set with two breaks in the first and seventh games, 'Nole' ran into the Croatian's reaction in the second set, which had to be resolved in the tie-break after Prizmic responded with a 'counterbreak' to the Serbian's break in the fourth game.
In sudden death, the young tennis player went ahead 6-2 and, after wasting three set points, he did not let the fourth pass to balance the contest, an emotional boost that led him to also take the lead in the third set thanks to two breaks ' (3-2).
Without panicking, the defending champion scored eight games in a row to win the third set and lead 4-0 in the fourth. Another break from his opponent tightened things up, but Djokovic secured victory on his seventh match point.
“He deserves all the applause he has received tonight. He is an incredible player, very mature for his age, he has handled the situation exceptionally on the court,” said Djokovic after the Melbourne stands applauded Prizmic. “I wish I had played better and more aggressively, but the preseason has been very short and physically I am still finding myself on the court. Now I have a couple of days until my next game, I hope to be at my best level,” he added.
Now, he will face the winner of the 'Aussie' duel between Marc Polmans or Alexei Popyrin, all on the way to becoming the third tennis player in history to lift 11 titles in the same 'Grand Slam' after the Spanish Rafa Nadal (14 Roland Garros) and the Australian Margaret Court (11 Australian Opens).