Novak Djokovic marks century of appearances in style after cruising past Tomas Martin Etcheverry at Australian Open

ByJames Hilsum

Updated 19/01/2024 at 12:17 GMT

Novak Djokovic was in no mood to hang around in his third-round clash against Tomas Martin Etcheverry with a comfortable straights-set win over the Argentine, sealing his place in the fourth round. After being made to sweat at times by Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin in rounds one and two, respectively, the world No. 1 was looking back to his ominous best in Melbourne on Friday.

Novak Djokovic cruised into the Australian Open fourth round with a 6-3 6-3 7-6(2) win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

The world No.1 concluded the contest in two hours and 28 minutes as he dispatched the Argentine with ruthless efficiency, marking a century of matches at the Australian Open in style.

He is now the only men's player in the Open Era to appear in more than 100 matches in all four Grand Slams, and on the evidence of tonight's display, it will take a Herculean effort to deny the Serbian a record-extending 11th major Down Under.

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Etcheverry was acquitting himself well in the opening exchanges and was matching Djokovic's' serving, winning his second service game very nicely with a pair of aces to level up the first set at 2-2.

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But Djokovic laid down a marker with the first break to move 4-2 ahead, setting himself up brilliantly with a sublime drop shot and coaxed the Argentine into a long backhand to seize the initiative.

Djokovic would go onto seal with the first set with an emphatic love to hold, taking only three quarters of an hour to draw first blood.

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The No.30 seed secured a morale-boosting hold at the start of the second set, responding so to love and moving 1-0 ahead with a fifth ace of the evening.

However, the joy was short lived, as Djokovic's incredible returning game came to the fore after teasing another break point from the 24-year-old and ruthlessly punishing a lacklustre second serve to move 2-1 up.

Etcheverry was hoping for some sort of chink in Djokovic's serve, but there was no such luck, as he secured a game to 30 with a brilliant ace down the T-line at 3-1.

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The Argentine managed to give Djokovic something to think about after moving 15-30 ahead in the sixth game, but his ability to step up a gear and fire home a seventh ace of the night secured another hold at 4-2.

There seemed to be no stopping the 36-year-old with ace number eight, followed by a forehand winner to take a hold to 15 at 5-3 up and leave Etcheverry serving to keep the set going.

Etcheverrry fought admirably to swat away two of three set points, but inevitably succumbed on the third when he swept a crosscourt forehand wide.

Djokovic wraps up the second set against Etcheverry

Djokovic kick-started the third with another clean hold, but Etcheverry rallied impressively, straining every possible sinew to take this contest into a fourth set.

Etcheverry showed sheer grit and determination to take a crucial hold with his 10th ace of the match after Djokovic took him to deuce.

The Argentine continued to hold firm on his service game after pulling clear at 30-30 to draw level again at 2-2, and took advantage of Djokovic's rare lapses with the forehand to consolidate again at 3-3.

Etcheverry needed to seize any morsel of an opportunity, and came agonisingly close to breaking Djokovic for the first time at deuce after recovering from 40-0 down, but hit a backhand into the net.

After that huge let-off for Djokovic, the Argentine responded with another gruelling hold that included a superb dropshot that enthralled the crowd at 4-4.

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A long forehand from Etcheverry helped the Serb consolidate to 30, but Etcheverry was refusing to go down without a fight and recovered from 15-30 down to level things up at 5-5.

With another hold for each player, a tie-break followed, which Djokovic sealed in a manner that do not befit the way Etcheverry battled in the third.

He wrapped this up fairly comprehensively at 7-2 to claim an astonishing 92nd win in 100 Australian Open matches, and can now looking forward to a last-16 clash with either Ben Shelton or Adrian Mannarino.

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