Novak Djokovic on Friday fought his way into the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, beating Tomas Etcheverry 7-5 (7/6), 6-2 in a surprisingly tight encounter.
A six-time winner in Rome, Djokovic was made to work by the Argentine, prevailing in 1 hour, 51 minutes to set up a third-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Stan Wawrinka earlier in the day.
Djokovic has not been knocked out of an ATP tour event at the first attempt since the Monte Carlo Masters last year, just his second tournament last season following his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Photo: AP
Still nursing an injury to his right elbow he had to battle his way past Etcheverry, winning the first set via a tie-break before finally ensuring passage into the next round.
“I’ve said before that this surface requires more time for me than maybe for other players to get myself to a good level, move well and hit the ball well. Rome has always been a tournament that I need for Roland Garros,” Djokovic said in Italian speaking to Sky Sport.
“This is my favorite clay tournament, there’s an incredible atmosphere on center court, and the consistency that I’ve had in previous years gives me a lot of faith,” he said.
Djokovic, 35, has made 12 finals in Rome and said that on Thursday that he was feeling good ahead of the tournament, despite missing last week’s Madrid Open.
In the women’s singles, Iga Swiatek started her bid to win the competition for the third time in a row in perfect fashion, not dropping a game in her straight-sets thrashing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The world No. 1 took just over an hour to ease into the third round.
In the women’s dooubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova faced off against Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok and Belgium’s Kimberley Zimmermann in the women’s doubles.
The match was delayed due to rain, but Kichenok and Zimmermann won the first set 7-6 (7/3). Hsieh and Strycova were ahead 3-2 in the second as of press time last night.
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