Novak Djokovic beats Mikhail Youzhny to clear round two – Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 2013
Reigning world number one, Novak Djokovic, dropped a set against the 27th ranked Russian star, Mikhail Youzhny, in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters hosted in Monaco. The 25-year-old Serb lost the opening
phase of the match 4-6 but bounced back to beat the 30-year-old Russian 6-1 and 6-4 in the following two sets to escape an early exit from the clay court season curtain raiser.
The opening set witnessed an emphatic all-round effort from two players especially at the beginning of the contest. Youzhny drew the first blood in the opening game of the match and took a resounding lead of 4-0 courtesy to another
breakthrough in the third game.
Djokovic was troubled by the pace of the rallies and the transformation from hard courts to clay seemed a factor in his early downfall. He managed to secure one breakthrough back in the eighth game but couldn’t keep the set alive
as he failed to equalise the scores.
However, the tables were turned upon the 27th ranked Russian in the second set. He lost a couple of breakpoints on the trot and failed to capitalise on the good start. The top seed Serb ended the second set in quick
succession and enforced the final battle into play.
The momentum was with the Serb who broke serve in the first game of the deciding phase but his opponent fought back to equalize the scores at 3-3. However, the Serb managed to sneak another breakthrough in the ninth game and rounded
of the contest with no pressure.
Djokovic confessed, “My movements on the clay are still not at the maximum and not where I want them to be. But as the days go by, I think I'm going to slowly get into it and hopefully I can elevate the level of performance in
the next match.”
He further added, “Today was a big test, over two hours. I had a great quality opponent. I'm very happy to win. I'm just happy to compete, to be honest. I didn't know if I'm going to be playing the tournament up to yesterday basically.
I haven't practised much; an hour maximum a day. Obviously it's taking its toll on my game.”
Novak Djokovic plays Juan Monaco in round three.
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