Cameron Norrie continued his fine grand slam form by holding his nerve at the end of a bruising battle with Francisco Comesaña to win 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (0) 7-6 (4) and set up a third‑round match with Novak Djokovic.
Norrie, who reached the fourth round of the French Open and quarter-finals at Wimbledon this year, had looked well on his way to victory as he established a two-set lead. However, as he edged close to winning, his nerves increasingly came to the surface.
After establishing a 4-1 lead with a double break in the final set and then serving for the match at 5-4, Norrie found himself down set point at 5-6. As Comesaña lasered a backhand down the line, Norrie thought he had been forced to a fifth set and he began walking to his chair but the umpire confirmed the shot had landed out.
Having been given a second chance, Norrie held serve to force a tie-break and then he closed out the match with courageous play. Norrie had toiled for nearly every point throughout the match, but as the match hung in the balance he closed out the match with two unreturned first serves.
Djokovic said he is hopeful that his form will improve with more matches at the US Open after he struggled early on against an inexperienced American challenger before recovering to reach the third round in New York with a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win against Zachary Svajda.
Three days after Djokovic’s difficult opening match, where he had numerous physical problems in an attritional tussle with Learner Tien, Djokovic was still searching for his form as he trailed by a set against Svajda. Although the Serb gradually found his way, he was also aided by the 22-year-old’s physical difficulties as he struggled with a left leg problem in the second half of the match.
Despite facing the greatest player of all time in the biggest stadium in the sport, Svajda performed with courage early on, outplaying Djokovic from the baseline before closing out a tense opening set with a searing down-the-line backhand. But Djokovic gradually worked his way back into the match with efficient serving and key forays to the net.
Svajda began to struggle with his left leg, frequently grabbing at it as his movement deteriorated. Despite his difficulties he led by a break at 3-1 in the third set following a poor service game from Djokovic – but the Serb quickly recovered, rolling through 11 of the next 13 games to take the match.
Novak Djokovic plays his ‘violin’ celebration after beating Zachary Svajda Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
Afterwards, Djokovic spoke frankly about his problems on the court: “I didn’t feel that great to be honest. I wasn’t happy with my tennis for the first part of the match, but also credit to Zach for playing some really high-quality tennis.
“It was unfortunate that he struggled with injury towards the end of the second set, but kudos to him for staying on the court. It was obvious he couldn’t serve as well as he did for a set and a half. I wished him all the best at the net because I think he’s playing really well.”
The US Open marks Djokovic’s first appearance in any competition since Wimbledon owing to the 38-year-old opting to prioritise his family life over competing in the lengthy two-week Masters 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati. Djokovic said he is hoping his level will gradually improve with more matches, victories and time on court at the tournament.
“That was the case for most of my grand slam career. The deeper I go in the tournament, the better I feel about my game,” he said. “It’s obviously a little different in the past couple of years for me bodywise, I get wear and tear quicker than I ever used to so I have to deal with that; a lot of recovery stuff to try to make myself able to perform at the highest level.”
Djokovic was followed at Arthur Ashe Stadium by Jessica Pegula, the fourth seed and last year’s finalist, who eased into the third round with a clinical 6-1, 6-3 victory over Anna Blinkova.
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