Novak Djokovic continued his Rome march with a hard-fought victory against Filip Krajinovic which featured an 87-minute long first set. Djokovic won 7-6 (7) 6-3 against Krajinovic in a match that showed all the best Novak has to offer. Recapping that opening set, Novak said:

"It was definitely one of the longest sets I think I have ever played. Never easy, I think, emotionally to play against someone that is one of my best friends for many years… I think the first set could have gone a different way, as well."

Novak has tremendous respect from Krajinovic which is visible in the way he speaks about him and the way he spoke about him after the match as well. He explained he was lucky to win the 1st set:

"Fortunately for me,it went my way, and that allowed me to swing through the ball a bit more in the second set. Maybe physically and mentally he dropped a level, and I used my opportunities and capitalised to win in straight sets."

Next up for Djokovic will be German qualifier Koepfer who is through after defeating Lorenzo Mussetti. That match finished after Novak's so he didn't offer any comment on his next opponent.

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