After his solid match with Roberto Carballes Baena, Novak Djokovic once again lives with the ghosts of a problem in his left thigh. The potentially comfortable match against the Frenchman Couacaud, a good player on the minor circuit, turned out to be decidedly more complicated than expected for the nine-time tournament champion, who was forced to call the physio in the middle of the second set and, above all, nearly three and a half hours of play to seal the 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0 final.
The 36th consecutive victory in Australia, number 23 in the first major of the year, earned him the challenge in the third round with Grigor Dimitrov. The executioner by Laslo Djere. As with Carballes, Djokovic canceled out the initial phase thanks to an ace and a game that tended to be low-scoring.
However, compared to the Spaniard, Couacaud does not have the same characteristics -especially in the defensive phase-, but above all he is not well armed enough to keep the intensity high during prolonged exchanges. Difficult, on the other hand, for a player accustomed to playing mainly only in the minor circuit.
Bottom line: The Serbian phenom took complete control of the contest with a 2-1 late game in the longest game of the match, a game that also cost the French player a minor left ankle…
