Novak Djokovic flashes past Santiago Giraldo to reach the third round – Australian Open 2012
World number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, crushed the Colombian challenger, Santiago Giraldo, with a breadstick at the Australian Open 2012, first of the four Grand Slam event taking place in the third and fourth week of January in Melbourne, Australia. He registered a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory over a former top-50 player to advance into the third round on Thursday.
Serbian tennis star, Djokovic, showed flawless performance at the Rod Laver Arena to dump the Colombian in their first meeting. He stayed on course to bid his third Australian Open title after overpowering Giraldo, ranked 56th in the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, in an hour and 42 minutes long marathon.
The defending champion nervously entered the opening set and gifted away his serve in the fifth game after committing a backhand error. However, he unveiled his true form after this and wiped out the next three games in a row. Djokovic dusted away only one out of two breakpoints he came across but capitalised on two out of five break chances, bagging the opener by winning six games to three in 41 minutes.
Misery continued for the Colombian in the second set as he lost his serve in the opening game. He failed to recover and after misjudging another backhand, the Serbian number one earned another break of serve in the third game. Later, Giraldo held his remaining serves but eventually suffered a 2-6 shock. The Colombian brushed off half of the four breakpoints he encountered and failed to find any break opportunity.
Top seed improved his winning ways in the last set and earned the coveted break in the opening game. After Giraldo held his serve in the third game, Djokovic unleashed barrage of massive groundstrokes to bag the last four games one after the other, pocketing the breadstick in just under half an hour. He smacked 14 winners and converted three out of four break opportunities to his advantage.
Overall the Serbian Ace hammered 27 winners and spilled fewer unforced errors i.e. 21 as opposed to Giraldo’s 39. He also clobbered a better first serve share of 55 percent and registered spectacular 29 out of 36 points on it. Djokovic put a cherry on the match after firing nine ferocious aces and finished the match with 86 points.
Next in line for the top seed is the French competitor, Nicolas Mahut, who battled past Japanese wild card entrant, Tatsuma Ito, in a four set thriller to reach this spot.
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