Novak Djokovic marches into second round of US Open

NEW DELHI: Serbian tennis star and defending champion Novak Djokovic marched into the second round of the ongoing US Open tournament, starting off his campaign with a win over Radu Albot on Monday.

Stepping on the hard court for the first time since the Indian Wells competition back in March and his first tournament after a historic Paris Olympics gold, Djokovic scored a win over Albot by 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and seven minutes, as per ATP.

Despite this victory and its margin, Djokovic did not seem to be at his best and cleanest. 10 double faults, putting 47 per cent of first serves into play and 40 unforced errors describe how at times the multi-time grand slam champion was sloppy.

He tied with the Swedish legend Roger Federer with the most wins at the competition with 89 and is now second to Jimmy Connors.

Djokovic is chasing a 25th major title to break his tie with Australian legend Margaret Court and in the second round, his next challenge will be the compatriot Laslo Djere, who beat German Jan-Lennard Struff in five sets. Sitting at 99 career titles, the number two ATP Rankings star is also chasing a century of titles.

Djokovic, having first won the US Open back in 2011, has improved his record to 30 wins and seven losses this season. He has won a total of four US Open titles.

Throughout his Grand Slam career, Djokovic has an enviable record of 62-1 against players outside the Top 100 and at the US Open, he is 41-0 against players outside the top 50. On the other hand, Albot's win-loss record worsened to 107 wins and 147 losses in his career.

This was his 10th US Open main-draw appearance after earning a qualification for the thrid time. Albot had momentum for very little time in the second set, breaking back at 2-all and led 40/0 on serve, but Djokovic responded back with some penetrating returns to win five successive points and reclaim his lead.