Throwback: Novak Djokovic wins three games vs. Marat Safin on Major debut

Ranked 188th, the 17-year-old Novak Djokovic passed the qualifying round at the Australian Open 2005 for a Major debut, facing world no. 4 and the last year's finalist Marat Safin in round 1.

Despite his rich talent and determination to show his best tennis against such a strong rival in the big stadium, Novak suffered a commanding 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 loss in an hour and 14 minutes. Marat won almost 50 points more than Novak, controlling the pace from start to finish and racing into the second round. The Serb hit less than five winners (!) and more than 25 unforced errors, never finding the range and losing ground in both the shortest and more advanced rallies.

Safin lost 13 points in ten service games and got broken once, stealing almost 70% of the return points to grab nine breaks and deliver one of his most impressive Major victories against the future eight-time Melbourne champion.

The youngster wasted two game points in the opening game and sent a backhand long to hand the break to Marat. The Russian held at 15 in game two and broke Novak at love a few minutes to open a 3-0 gap following Djokovic's loose forehand. Like in the previous two games, Safin held at 15 and earned a break at love to move 5-0 ahead, closing the opening set with a service winner in game six for a bagel after 19 minutes.

Djokovic saved two break points at the beginning of the second set to get his name on the scoreboard and stayed in touch until the fifth game when he hit a double fault to fall 3-2 behind. The Russian broke again at love in game seven and fired a service winner at 5-2 to forge two sets to love advantage in under 50 minutes!

They traded breaks at the beginning of the third set, and it was Safin who took charge from that moment, rattling off five straight games to cross the finish line. Dominating both serve and return, Marat moved over the top when Novak sent a backhand long in game seven, making a perfect start of the tournament and winning six more matches for the second and last Major crown.