Novak Djokovic destroys Jeremy Chardy in first round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Australian Open 2011 champion, Novak Djokovic of Serbia kicked off his campaign for the season’s second Grand Slam win on Tuesday, 21st June as he destroyed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in three sets, registering a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 victory for himself.
Commanding a perfect 5-0 lead in the head-to-head, the Serb took almost ninety minutes to secure a straight sets victory over Frenchman.
Opening serve in the first set, Chardy met blow for blow against the Serb as neither pro broke each other. The neck-to-neck run between the two players continued for the first six games with the scoreboard levelled at 3-3. Although the Serb faced a break opportunity on deuce in the seventh game, he squandered it with an into-the-net shot. Successfully saving a break point, Chardy was able to hold his serve as he forced the score to continue ticking on even terms.
A lucky break came Djokovic’s way in the ninth game when the once unstoppable Serb hit a cross court winner on a deuce advantage to break the Frenchman and go 5-4 in the lead. Serving for the set at 5-4, Serb struck a powerful ace at 40-30 to clinch the set 6-4.
Although the Frenchman hit more winners and struck more aces, his nine unforced errors to Djokovic’s one took him down in the set. Hitting a marvellous 89% on his first serve and a perfect 100% on his second, the Serb successfully converted one of three breakpoint opportunities to go one up in the set score.
Having found his footing in the match, Djokovic started the second set on a high note as he broke Chardy in the first game to clinch an early 2-0 lead in the set. Another break later, the Serb had extended his lead to 4-0. Failing to hold his serve at 1-5, Chardy committed several unforced errors eventually gifting away a breadstick victory to the Serb.
Following suit in the third set, Djokovic again broke Chardy early on to lead the set 3-0. Although Chardy managed to put himself on the scoreboard in the fourth game, the Serb once more reeled off three straight games to register another breadstick win, sealing his straight sets victory.
Improving to a superb 42-1 for the season, Djokovic now moves on ahead to play either Ukrainian Illya Marchenko or South African Kevin Anderson in the next round.
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