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Djokovic, Radwanska Advance in Melbourne

Jan 17th 2017

The men’s defending champion Novak Djokovic and 3rd-seeded woman Agnieszka Radwanska highlighted play in the evening session at Melbourne Park on day two. Each was successful, advancing to the second round.

2nd-seeded Novak Djokovic was forced to battle in a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win against veteran Fernando Verdasco.  With the direction of the match hanging in the balance, Djokovic won a competitive second-set tiebreak. It capped off a set featuring sharp momentum changes and ebbs and flows. After building the two-set advantage, Djokovic gained control of the third to seal the match.

Photo courtesy of Chaz Niell for Tennis View Magazine

(photo courtesy of Chaz Niell for Tennis View Magazine)

Verdasco had the former world no.1 on the ropes at Doha earlier this month, where he forced the Serb to save 5 match points before rallying for the win.

Djokovic had no time to coast in the first-round match which was competitive from the beginning and while there was some rust, he did enough to survive and advance.

When I saw the draw, I thought to myself this is going to be the only match I’m going to focus on,” said Djokovic. “If he’s on, you never know. I started well with a great intensity. First and third sets went well, second set was a gamble — pretty close.”

The six-time Australian Open champion will face Denis Istomin next.

Meanwhile, in the women’s draw, Radwanska was pushed by Tsvetana Pironkova in her 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 first-round win.

Agnieszka Radwanska

The Pole was in cruise control in the first set as she systematically controlled points, winning the set in less than a half hour. But Pironkova took advantage of errors and the inability of Radwanska to hold serve in the second set. And although the Bulgarian struggled in her service games, she did enough to lock down the set and equalize the match.

But in the third set, Radwanska quickly seized momentum with a service break and kept the pressure on taking the set and match.

“That first set was kind of quick. I played very well, I just start very aggressively,” Radwanska said. “So, I think I just stepped back a little bit in the second set. Obviously, she started to play a little bit better, too. I think I was just a little bit too slow, as well. Well, I think always end up like that! But I'm just really glad that I could some more good tennis in that third set and win whole match.”

Radwanska will meet veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the second round.