Washington: The Serbian tennis prodigy and reigning champion, Novak Djokovic, advanced to the second round of the current US Open tournament, commencing his campaign with a victory over Radu Albot on Monday.
Entering the competition on hard court for the first time since the Indian Wells event in March and his inaugural tournament following a historic gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Djokovic emerged victorious over Albot by a score of 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in a span of two hours and seven minutes, as reported by ATP.
Despite this triumph and its significant margin, Djokovic appeared to be somewhat off his game and not at his cleanest. He committed 10 double faults, with 47 percent of his first serves being put to play, and made 40 unforced errors, illustrating moments when the multi-time grand slam champion was somewhat careless.
Djokovic shares the record for the most victories at the tournament with Roger Federer, with 89 wins, placing him second only to Jimmy Connors.
Djokovic is on a quest for his 25th major title, aiming to surpass his tie with Australian legend Margaret Court. In the second round, his next opponent will be compatriot Laslo Djere, who defeated German Jan-Lennard Struff in five sets.
At 99 career titles, the second-ranked ATP player is also pursuing a milestone of 100 titles.
Djokovic, who first claimed the US Open title in 2011, has since improved his record to 30 wins and seven losses this season, with a total of four US Open titles under his belt. Throughout his Grand Slam career, Djokovic boasts an impressive record of 62-1 against players not ranked in the Top 100, and at the US Open, he has a record of 41-0 against players not ranked in the top 50.
Conversely, Albot's record of wins and losses has deteriorated to 107-147 in his career. This was his 10th appearance in the main draw of the US Open, marking his third qualification.
Albot had a brief moment of momentum in the second set, breaking back at 2-all and leading 40/0 on serve, but Djokovic responded with some strong returns, winning five consecutive points and regaining the lead.
