Match report

Roko Karanusic © Tennistalk.com
Stella Artois Championships
2nd round
6/11/08 1 2 Tot
hr  Roko Karanusic 2 6 7 0
rs  Novak Djokovic 6 7 9 2
Novak Djokovic © Tennistalk.com

  • Novak Djokovic shakes off the rust, advances in straight sets

    6/11/08 9:56 PM | Cheryl Murray
    Roko Karanusic of Croatia gave number two seed Novak Djokovic more trouble than expected, as he pushed the Serb to a tiebreak in the second set.

    Novak Djokovic had a successful clay season. He made the semi-finals or better in each tournament he played on the dirt. Roger Federer knocked him out of Monte Carlo in the semis (due to a retirement from Djokovic). He went on to win the Rome Masters event two weeks later. Unfortunately for Djokovic, he ran into Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals in Hamburg and again at Roland Garros.

    He comes into the grass season knocking on the door of the number two spot, held captive by Rafael Nadal for over three years. His match on Wednesday against the world number 112 perhaps did play out as easily as he would have expected.

    The first set was predictable fare. Djokovic faced no breakpoints on his own serve, and managed to break Karanusic twice to take the set 6-2. The second set got more interesting.

    Djokovic’s game showed some signs of grass court rust in the middle of the second set. His forehand began to let him down and he allowed Karanusic into the match. The two men traded breaks of serve to force the tiebreak. Karanusic had a set point on his own serve at 6-5, but he attempted an ill-advised drop shot to give the mini-break back to Djokovic/ Sensing a possible third set, Djokovic finally closed out the match.

    The Serb will play countryman Janko Tipsarevic in the next round.

    Djokovic admits he had a slight struggle to close out first match on grass
    Djokovic says the quick change from Paris to Wimbledon is all a part of the sport

  • Thumbs up

    Pretty standard second round fare, but it's nice to see the seeds move through.

  • Thumbs down

    Djokovic's game was ugly in the second set. He'll need to tighten it up to get past the more difficult opponents.

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