Paris, May 24 : Defending champion Novak Djokovic started his Roland-Garros campaign in a classy fashion at Court Philippe-Chatrier against World No.99 Yoshihito Nishioka across three sets here on Monday.
Once Djokovic came into his own, there was little the Japanese player could do to stall the world No.1 as he hastened to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 victory.
The 26-year-old Nishioka came out all guns blazing from the very first point, targeting an opening break and early advantage against Djokovic, but the defending champion’s challenge exposed the fissures in the Japanese player’s game.
Everything Nishioka did, Djokovic countered with a bit of a faster and sharper response. Nishioka orchestrated three break opportunities in Djokovic’s opening service game, but the Serbian legend denied them all once he found his footing.
Soon Djokovic focused on Nishioka’s susceptible second delivery and capitalised on the returns of serve, which fetched him double fault from Nishioka to go ahead 4-2.
Nishioka tried to go for his shots, but the Serb diffused the Japanese player’s rhythm and his court coverage often induced the World No.99 to swing the racquet wildly and earned points on unforced errors.
Nishioka finally racked up his first break of Djokovic serve but he was already down 0-5. The World No.1 worked on his self-belief against the crestfallen body language of the Japanese.
Djokovic earned a break point by feathering a drop shot winner that sailed over the net, snuffing out a bit of hope in Nishioka. When the World No.99 employed his own drop shot in response, he ended up burying it into the net to hand the Serbian the second set.
From there, Djokovic scripted his class by running through the next six games and brushing off the only break point he faced as he booked a place in the second round, where he will face either Alex Molcan or Federico Coria.
“I think he has to be pleased with the start of the match, until I really got used to and kind of adapted to his game. He’s very quick, one of the quickest players on the tour, and the conditions were quite slow, the ball was not bouncing. And it was just difficult to penetrate, and so the first set was very close. I cruised through the second and third really, when I started going through the ball a bit more. I have to be pleased overall,” Djokovic said.
“Of course, I always expect high scores from myself, so I can always do better, but it was a very good start to the tournament,” he added.
with uni inputs
