Novak Djokovic showed his U.S Open Series slump was over when he dominated Paul-Henri Matthieu 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to move into the third round of the U.S Open. The world No.1 played like one in the first set as he made 87 percent of his first serves in, did not face one break point, broke his opponent 3 times and hit 11 winners to 6 errors.
The second set saw his level drop a fraction as he made 66 percent of first serves in, and made 8 errors to 11 winners. He also faced a break point. Compared to the first set, it might have looked a little sloppy, but it was still the kind of performance top seeds would be pleased to give in the early days of a slam.
In the third set, Djokovic returned to the supreme form of the first as he got 85 percent of first serves in and struck 11 winners to 2 errors. He did face 3 break points as Matthieu tried to salvage something from the wreckage that was his U.S Open 2014, but Djokovic saved them all on his way to serving up a bagel to the former top 20 player.
In the next round, Djokovic will face home boy Sam Querrey who knocked out Guillermo Garcia Lopez, seeded 28, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Querry put in a solid display with 16 aces and a 39-34 winner-error ratio. He will have to be even better if he is going to repeat his 2012 Paris-Bercy win over Djokovic in their third round match on the weekend.
The winner of the Djokovic-Querrey match could face another winner on Day 4, 13th seed John Isner, who sailed past Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. Isner overwhelmed the German with his serve- 30 aces and an average first serve speed of 126 mph-and with his ground game, too as he blasted 54 winners to 18 unforced errors.
Other winners on day 4 through to round three were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9), Kei Nishikori (10), and Phillip Kohlschreiber (22), the latter two going through after their opponents retired.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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