Novak Djokovic sets sights on record Australian Open title win after cruising past qualifier

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Paul Newman15 January 2019

Novak Djokovic had won all 17 of his previous matches with qualifiers in Grand Slams and the world No1 rarely looked like spoiling that statistic as he began his quest to win a seventh Australian Open title on Tuesday.

Djokovic, who shares the record of six titles with Roy Emerson and Roger Federer, beat Mitchell Krueger, a 25-year-old American making his debut in the main draw, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours.

Krueger, the world No230, lived with Djokovic for four games, but once the world No1 had made his first break of serve to lead 3-2 there was never any doubt about the outcome, though there were plenty of entertaining rallies.

Djokovic described the 12 months since his last appearance here as “turbulent”. Having taken off the previous six months to rest his injured elbow, the Serb lost in the fourth round here last year and then underwent surgery.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs,” he said of his experiences in the last year. “I had this major injury with my elbow. I think I didn’t address it in the right way and unfortunately it got worse and I had to get on the surgery table right after the Australian Open last year.”

In the second round Djokovic will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost to the Serb when he won his first Grand Slam title here 11 years ago. Tsonga, who has had his own fitness issues in recent years and is ranked No177 in the world, beat Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-4, 7-6.

Ivo Karlovic, who will turn 40 next month, beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 to become the oldest winner of a men’s singles match at this tournament since 44-year-old Ken Rosewall reached the third round in 1978.

The Croatian also became the oldest winner at any Slam tournament since 40-year-old Jimmy Connors reached the second round of the US Open in 1992.

“As long as my ranking is up and I get into all these tournaments, I don’t see any reason I should stop,” said the world No73.

Alexander Zverev had too much power for Aljaz Bedene, though it took the shock of dropping his serve early in the first set before the world No4 found top gear. After Bedene had broken serve Zverev won eight games in a row and went on to win 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

Kei Nishikori had to come back from two sets down to beat Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, a 23-year-old qualifier, who retired after wilting in the stifling heat when trailing 3-6, 6-7, 6-0, 6-2, 3-0.

Nick Kyrgios showed little sign of any improvement in his form as he went down 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 to Milos Raonic.

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