Novak Djokovic cruises in Roland Garros R1

Monday, 29 May 2023 at 16:19

Novak Djokovic took on American Aleksandar Kovacevic in the first round of Roland Garros and he cruised comfortably 6-3 6-2 7-6(1) past the youngster.

Novak Djokovic is one of the top two favourites at this year's Roland Garros alongside Alcaraz and his start here certainly looked like a favourite would start things off. He never lost control of this match imposed himself at will and mostly picked his spots when to do that. He could have dominated this match even more but for Djokovic, it's always about pacing himself in the earlier rounds of Roland Garros.

This was a good match to feel the court and the conditions and at times Kovacevic did make him work. He handled it well and there was no elbow brace either so that's a good sign.

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First set

The first set opened slowly with both players feeling each other out but Djokovic quickly took control of it. Kovacevic plays very good tennis but his game isn't very suited to clay, at least not at this stage of his career when he doesn't have much experience. 6-3 was the first set as Djokovic took apart his opponent with 16 winners.

Second set

The second set continued in the same manner as Djokovic once again dominated posting 10 winners in that one. Kovacevic tried to play it risky but it didn't work as he had 13 unforced errors to 12 winners. The final score was 6-2 with the American still dealing with some nerves which was expected.

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Final set

The final set was very interesting as Djokovic took an early lead but then he gave it back after losing focus a bit. He did it once more to complicate things a bit more but Djokovic still managed to play his best when he needed to and finished off the match with an impressive finish in the tiebreak 7-1.