Novak Djokovic will once again need to push Serbia to the finish line as he had to win both of his matches against the Czech Republic to advance at the 2024 United Cup.
The Czechs are a tricky opponent, especially with the reigning Wimbledon champion, Marketa Vondrousova, leading their team. She showed why she’s the leader, beating Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
For the world no. 1 on the ATP Tour, that meant only one thing. He once again needed to win his singles match, before dressing up for the mixed doubles as well.
His opponent was Jiri Lehecka, who is capable of causing an upset, but going into this match, the Czech player was on a four-match losing streak, and it didn’t seem that the 24-time Grand Slam champion would be a man against whom he would end it.
Yet, the Czech managed to pull off some heroics, but that was not enough to overcome such an experienced player as Djokovic, who won three out of four Grand Slams in 2023.
In the first set of the match, Djokovic broke his opponent’s serve twice, and since he held his own comfortably, without facing a single break point, there was no discussion about who would win it as the Serb took it, 6-1.
It seemed that the 36-year-old would cruise towards the finish like when he established a 3-1 lead in the second set, but his opponent isn’t one of the seeded players at Grand Slams just like that, and he won the following four games to turn around the second set.
But serving at 5-3, Lehecka couldn’t deal with the pressure, and after he lost his serve, the second part of the match had to be decided in a tie-break.
Once again, Djokovic was the first one to have an advantage, but he lost his mini-break, as Lehecka added to more, winning the second set 7-3 in a tie-break.
But once again, the third set was as straightforward as it gets. Djokovic broke his opponent’s serve twice, while not facing any break points, and as a result, he won the match 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-1.
Now, the Serbian will suit up for the mixed doubles, teaming up with Olga Danilovic to take on a Czech duo, which is yet to be named, but will likely be Marketa Vondrousova and Jiri Lehecka.
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