Djokovic holds off Petzschner to reach third round

[~IronMan~]

Fri, Sep 3 09:10 AM

Enlarge PhotoNovak Djokovic of Serbia stretches out to return a backhand to Philipp Petzschner of Germany... Novak Djokovic capped a perfect day for the favourites on centre court at the U.S. Open on Thursday by beating Germany's Philipp Petzschner to reach the third round in the year's last grand slam.

Third-seeded Djokovic closed out the irresistible display by the seeds with a 7-5 6-3 7-6 victory under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium that marked the fifth successive straight-sets win for the seeds on centre court.

The Serb had to work harder than his predecessors at Arthur Ashe as Petzschner put up a spirited fight in an entertaining tilt that was decided by 8-6 in the third-set tiebreaker.

Djokovic, Open runner-up to Roger Federer in 2007 and semi-final loser against the Swiss master the last two years, will go up against unseeded American James Blake, who advanced against Canadian Peter Polansky.

(Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)





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