New York, Sep 3 World no.1 Novak Djokovic lost a tie-breaker for the first time this year but rallied past Kyle Edmund to advance from the second round of the US Open. Djokovic won the match 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. He next faces Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, who beat USA's Michael Mmoh 6-2, 6-2, 7-5.
Djokovic, who is chasing his fourth US Open title, lost an intense first set that went on for more than an hour. He had previously won all 10 tiebreaks he played this year.
After the set however, the Serbian took over and Edmund was hardly a match for the rest of the match. Djokovic hit 16 aces and lost only 12 points on his first serve. "I'm actually glad I did drop a set and got tested the way I did today against Kyle. I expected it to be a tough, tough task," said Djokovic after the match. "I'm really glad having an early kind of tough match in the tournament," Djokovic said, "because it kind of serves me better, I think, for the rest of the tournament."
Stefanos Tsitsipas meanwhile beat Maxime Cressy 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 to mark his debut at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He thus progresses to the third round of the US OPen for the first time in his career where he will face Borna Coric. He remains on course to face Alexander Zverev, who beat 19-year-old Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-1. 12th seed Dennis Shapovalov beat South Korean Kwon Soon-woo 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
( With inputs from IANS )
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