He showed great mentality and resilience. 'It could easily have been his match as well. He is an amazing player, he handled himself incredibly well on the court. That set up a rollercoaster third set, which Djokovic claimed by winning four successive games - but only after Prizmic had battled back with a double break from 2-0 down.Īnd even as the result began to appear a formality in the fourth set when Djokovic continued his run of games for a 4-0 lead, his teenage opponent refused to go quietly, breaking back before saving four match points in the ninth game to force the top seed to serve out victory. Sunday's match surpassed Djokovic's previous longest in the first round of a major, which was a three-hour-57-minute encounter against Gael Monfils at the US Open in 2005.įew could have anticipated the absorbing tussle which would develop after Djokovic took a straightforward first set.īut Prizmic hinted at what was to come when he broke Djokovic for the first time for a 3-1 lead in the second, before holding his nerve in the tie-break with his fourth set point. While the Serb will face Alexei Popyrin or Marc Polmans in the second round, Prizmic - crowned French Open boys' champion last year - has a bright future ahead on the evidence of his breakthrough performance on Rod Laver Arena. Djokovic, who could achieve a record 25th Grand Slam singles title this month, later said he had felt 'under the weather'.
