While it wasn't as tough as yesterday Djokovic still had some minor issues in today's match against Koepfer in Rome. The start was perfect for Djokovic who won his opening game, before breaking Koepfer to take a 2-0 lead. He would build on it immediately with another easy service game and another break. It was 4-0 for Djokovic and it looked like he would cruise past Koepfer without any issues.

The German had other ideas as he played a very good game and took his first breakpoint that he had. One more solid service game and were at 4-2. Then Dominik won a game without dropping a point and it looked like we had a match. That was warning enough for Novak who stepped up his game and broke Dominik once more to take a 5-3 lead before ending the set 6-3.

Novak continued to play well at the start of the 2nd set as he broke Koepfer again and then served well enough to confirm the 2-0 lead. He would get two break points in the next game as well but failed to convey either of them to give Dominik some hope of a comeback. Midway through the 2nd set Koepfer got his chance after a poor game by Djokovic and he tieng the set at 3-3. At 4-4 Novak had several chances to break his opponent but Dominik saved all of them. He then proceeded to take a 5-4 lead before breaking Djokovic to win the 2nd set 6-4.

The 3rd set was when we saw the best of Novak as he took an early break to position himself in the best possible way going forward. He maintained the lead through the set ending it with another break 6-3. All in all it was a performance that showed to Novak that his game does have weaknesses and he will need to finetune them going forward if he hopes to win the title.

https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1307331112725745667