Djokovic back on his favorite court in Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Same Grand Slam, same court, same result. Only the year was different for Novak Djokovic — and the amount of time he needed on the bright blue hard surface at Rod Laver Arena.
The Australian Open defending champion took his first step toward winning his third consecutive title at Melbourne Park — and fourth overall — with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu of France yesterday.
The match lasted one hour, 42 minutes, more than four hours faster than when the Serbian star was last on centre court, his victory in last year’s final over Rafael Nadal in a five-hour, 53-minute marathon.
The win ran Djokovic’s winning streak at Melbourne to 15 matches and his overall win-loss record to 33-5. Any wonder Djokovic calls the Australian Open, site of his first of five Grand Slams in 2008, his favourite major.
“It’s great to be back in Australia playing on this court,” Djokovic said.
On an opening day when Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams also easily won their first-round matches, Djokovic took his first step to becoming the first man to win three consecutive Australian Open titles in the Open era.
“Any achievement, especially if it’s part of history, would mean a lot to me,” Djokovic said. “I love this sport. This sport has been my life since I was four years old.”
Djokovic lost a match to Australia’s Bernard Tomic in the exhibition mixed-team Hopman Cup tournament this month, but said his win over Mathieu, who reached a career-high number 12 ranking in 2008, was a good steppingstone for his second-round match against American Ryan Harrison, a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 winner over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.
Sharapova finished her first match of the year in 55 minutes, cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Olga Puchkova to start proceedings on centre court without showing any signs of trouble with her sore right collarbone.
The number two-ranked Sharapova, who lost the final to Victoria Azarenka here last year before going on to win the French Open, faced only two break points in the match and she saved both of those in the first game with aces.
Sharapova withdrew from the Brisbane International earlier this month with a collarbone injury, saying she wanted to concentrate on being fit for Melbourne. She also skipped the Brisbane tournament last year before going on to reach the Australian Open final.
Sharapova has a potential third-round match against Venus Williams, who needed just an hour for her opening 6-1, 6-0 win over Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.
Number four Agnieszka Radwanska won the last nine straight games in her opening 7-5, 6-0 win over Australian wild-card Bojana Bobusic, and 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur beat Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan 7-6 (3), 6-3 to end a run of five losses on her home courts in Australia.
Number six Li Na, who lost the Australian Open final before winning the 2011 French Open, had a 6-1, 6-3 win over Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan, while number 11 Marion Bartoli, number 18 Julia Gorges of Germany and number 27 Sorana Cirstea of Romania also advanced.
Former French Open champion and 13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic completed women’s play for the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Melinda Czink of Hungary.
Among the men, fourth-seeded David Ferrer defeated Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych defeated Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; and number 10 Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat American qualifier Steve Johnson 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-2.
Eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia came back from two service breaks down in the second set and went on to beat local favourite Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-3. It was Hewitt’s 17th consecutive Australian Open, a tournament where he’s only advanced past the fourth round once — when he lost in the final to Marat Safin in 2005.
Also advancing were number 15 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, number 16 Kei Nishikori of Japan, number 22 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, number 26 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 2006 finalist and 28th-seeded Marcos Baghdatis and number 32 Julien Benneteau of France.
Williams took command of her match early with a steady stream of winners and powerful serves.
She skipped last year’s Australian Open due to illness and was warmly welcomed with applause as she entered the court. Williams had the biggest jump of any of the top players in 2012, moving from outside the top 100 to finish the year at number 24.
Her younger sister, Serena, was sitting in the crowd with coach Patrick Mouratoglou. Serena is the favourite to win the Australian Open, heading into the tournament with 35 wins in her past 36 matches, including titles at Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.
Number three-ranked Serena Williams is in the top half of the draw with defending champion Azarenka, and the pair won’t start until today.