New Delhi: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic beat Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor to win his second-round in the U.S. Open 2021 tennis match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York, on Friday.
The match began with a serve by Djokovic, who led the first set with 6-2. Though Griekspoor tried diverting the game to a deuce in the second set, Djokovic’s dominating serves, swift volleys, and forehand smash helped him win the consecutive sets with scores 6-3 and 6-2, respectively.
The World No.1 also returned 121st seed’s poor serves and tuned 13 aces in his favor, whereas the Netherlander dominated the baseline exchanges.
The 25-year-old did not stand a winning chance against the Serbian as the latter delivered aggressive smashes towards the end of the 99-minute game.
Griekspoor played his 4th Grand Slam match, whereas Djokovic is only 5 matches away to win the Grand Slam title. He will play the third round against the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, Kei Nishikori of Japan.
Meanwhile, Sania Mirza and her American partner Coco Vandeweghe were knocked out of the U.S. Open by the 12th seeded Romanian-Ukrainian team of Raluca Olaru and Nadia Kichenok in an intense first round of Women’s Doubles match at Court 7 on Friday.
The former World No.1 and Vandeweghe won the first set by 6-4 before losing to 4-6 and 3-6, respectively.
(Avya Mathur)