Top seed Novak Djokovic on Friday breezed through to the fourth round of Australian Open by beating Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets (6-3, 6-3, 7-6) in the third round. In his 100th match of the Australian Open, the 24-time Grand Slam winner looked on song as he notched up his first straight-set victory of the tournament.
Etcheverry was pegged on the back-foot right from the beginning of the match as Novak Djokovic’s baseline play and sturdy forehands proved too much for the Argentine to handle. Djokovic broke Etchverry’s serve in the sixth game of the first set to take the lead. The Serb had 11 winners in the set compared to Etcheverry’s eight. Djokovic also converted 75 per cent of his second serve in the first set. In comparison, Etchverry was able to convert only 25 per cent of his second serves.
Djokovic carried his momentum forward in the second set to break Etchverry early in the second set as the packed Rod Lever Arena cheered for the Serbian. Djokovic kept up his form in the second set, producing some magnificent aces to wear Etchverry further down. The 24-time Grand Slam winner put the second set to bed by breaking the serve of Etchverry while being 5-3 up.
Etchverry put up a determined front in the third set, not allowing Djokovic to break his serve and take the game away. The third set went to the wire as it took a tie breaker to settle the tie. Etchverry forced quite a few unforced errors from Djokovic as the World no.1 looked somewhat out of shape. Nevertheless, Djokovic regained his composure in the tie-breaker and outplayed Etchverry 7-2 to ease into the fourth round.
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