In the men’s singles first round on Tuesday, Novak Djokovic easily defeated seasoned Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert to start his title defence at Roland Garros. It took Djokovic two hours and thirty-one minutes to surpass the World No. 42 and the hometown hero 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in front of a raucous Paris Philippe-Chatrier audience.
Easy start for defending champion
Djokovic easily won the opening set after converting a break early in the contest. However, in the second set, Pierre-Hugues Herbert upped his game and applied pressure to Novak Djokovic, making the Serb work hard for it. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was in trouble when he dropped serve and was forced into a tie-breaker in the second set, but Djokovic stepped up his game in the second-set tiebreaker and won it easily.
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Herbert’s fight not enough to down Djokovic
Pierre-Hugues Herbert was equally adamant in the third set too and drew level at 3-3 at one point of time. However, Djokovic did what he does best, breaking Herbert’s serve and moving away with the game when the latter was serving to stay alive in the match.
Djokovic will play World No. 63 Roberto Carballes Baena in the second round. In his first-round match on Tuesday, Baena prevailed in four sets over Constant Lestienne of France.
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