Australian Open 2021: Novak Djokovic defeats Taylor Fritz in five sets to get through to the 4th round

Australian Open 2021: Novak Djokovic defeats Taylor Fritz in five sets to get through to the 4th round
Novak Djokovic AO2021

Novak Djokovic took on USA’s Taylor Fritz in the third round of the Australian Open 2021 and was the clear favorite due to his head-to-head record and reputation. Fritz had been defeated by Djokovic in their previous two meetings and this meeting also resulted in a Djokovic win with the Serb fighting through despite a mid-match injury.

The match was won by Novak Djokovic with a score of 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.

Novak Djokovic survives a scare

Djokovic took the first game of the set without much effort. Fritz equalized the score but Djokovic took the lead again to make it 2-1. And then with a volley took a comfy lead of 3-1. Djokovic was however in for a fight as Fritz brought it to a tie at 5-5. And the set entered a tie-breaker with 6-6.Djokovic took the set with 7-6(1).

The second set started with Fritz’s service but it was not very impactful. Djokovic took the first two-game to nil despite some good volleys from Fritz. However, Fritz was able to take a game making it 2-1. Fritz fought as hard as he could but still went to a deficit of 4-3. Djokovic inevitably took the set with 6-4.

The third set started with a win for Fritz. But as expected Djokovic equalized the score to 1-1 very quickly. Fritz took another game to make it 2-1. At this time Djokovic had to take a medical time out. He came back after a few minutes to make it a tie at 2-2. Then Fritz took the lead again with 4-3 and extended the lead to 5-3. Novak at this time seemed to trail behind as Fritz took the set. With a score of 6-3.

The fourth set started with Djokovic on the service. He was able to get the first game. But Fritz was still in the fight and so was Djokovic. At 3-2, the play was suspended so that the audience could be escorted out as per the government orders.The set continued in an empty stadium. Fritz gained a cushy lead with 5-3. Djokovic seemed to be affected by his injury and the set went to the American with a score of 6-4.

The fifth set began with Djokovic taking a lead with 2-1. It felt like Djokovic might go down but he leaped in to a cushy lead with 5-2 and took the set 6-2 and hence, the match.

In a post-match interview, When asked about his injury he replied by congratulating his opponent for playing a good game and told that he did what he could and he was able to win and he will remember this match forever. When asked about the lockdown he said that it was unfortunate for the crowd that the match ended in their absence. He also expressed his skepticism about his recovery from his injury.

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