Novak Djokovic dominant in Australian Open opener

Novak Djokovic kicked off his Australian Open campaign with a match against an in-form Chardy.

Even though the Frenchman played some good tennis leading up to the Australian Open Novak was dominant from start to finish winning in straight sets 6-3 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour and a half of play.

Novak was focused from the start breaking Chardy in the opening game which proved crucial in the opening set. He would not let go of the lead throughout the set even adding one more break to close it out at 6-3. In the 2nd set Novak completely took over as Chardy could not rely on his powerful serve to bail him out. One of the best serve returners read him perfectly and cruised to a 6-1 finish. He was impressive on his own serve as well dropping only one point in the whole set.

Wasting no time in the third Novak shifted into a higher gear to break Chardy once more taking an early lead. After several games without any excitement, Novak once again shifted into a higher gear determined to end it quickly so after a hard battle he broke Chardy once more to take a 4-1 lead. From there it was an easy finish for Djokovic who closed it out with 6-2.

It was a strong display from Djokovic who did not allow Chardy to see any break points. On return, he was fantastic reading the Frenchman well which was more than enough with his tactics that saw him up the intensity when he needed to.