WATCH: Highlights as Novak Djokovic overcomes elbow injury and 18-year-old in Banja Luca
Novak Djokovic didn’t have it all his own way during his second-round win over youngster Luca Van Assche at the Srpska Open on Wednesday.
The build-up to the world No 1’s first match at the inaugural ATP 250 event in Bosnia and Herzegovina was dominated by talk about his shock defeat to Lorenzo Musetti at the Monte Carlo Masters and his injury as he admitted that his “elbow is not in an ideal shape but good enough to be ready for the first match”.
And he once again played in an arm sleeve and for large parts of the opening set it looked like another upset would be on the cards as the 18-year-old Van Assche gave his more established opponent the runaround.
However, the experience eventually told as the 22-time Grand Slam winner ran out a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2 winner in two hours and 38 minutes in Banja Luca.
“It wasn’t easy,” Djokovic said after the match. “This would probably rank as the slowest court, slowest conditions I’ve ever played in, to be honest. I couldn’t penetrate through the court. I couldn’t put any ball past him.”
The Frenchman first gave the best player in the world a scare in the ninth game as he broke and then came out to serve for the set, but the Serbian hit back immediately to take it to a tie-breaker.
Van Assche would not be denied though as he edged the tie-breaker.
But Djokovic is a master at turning things around as he bounced back early in the second set with a break in third game and he got a second break in game nine to take it to a decider.
The teenager, though, was quick out of the blocks in the third set as he broke in the opening game only for the top seed to make quick amends yet again.
That was as good as it got for the youngster as Djokovic broke again to race into a 4-1 lead before he eventually broke for a third time to secure the win.
“He was on every single ball for a set-and-a-half until I started to get some rhythm going,” Djokovic added. “I’m happy with the way I finished the match. Of course I can always play better, but a win is a win.”
The world No 1 will face either fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic or eighth-seeded Frenchman Gregoire Barrere in the quarter-final.
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