Novak Djokovic dismantled Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round at Wimbledon
“Come on, Than,” someone shouted from the crowd aswas two points from victory on Centre Court here on Wednesday. “Make him work for it.” Thanasi Kokkinakis, who had been doing his best to get the six-times champion to break sweat for the last two hours, could only smile, shrug and ruefully shake his head.
A better service game to open the second set was followed by another break in his next, with Djokovic walloping back another booming first serve to set up an easy volley. The Djokovic serve, meanwhile, seemed unassailable, and on the rare occasions when the door seemed slightly ajar, it immediately slammed shut. A rare double fault for 30-all in game six was followed by a very hittable second serve, but Kokkinakis ballooned it long and moments later, it was 4-2 to the champion.
By now, Kokkinakis’s 6ft 4in frame was visibly sagging and there were frequent looks of bewilderment as much as frustration as his opponent kept pulling points out of the fire.Even at two breaks up in the third, Djokovic still scrapped and scurried for every point, and when he chased down a drop shot to hold serve and move to 5-1, it was like watching a goalkeeper who is still desperate to keep a clean sheet when his team are 5-0 up.
On this form, Kokkinakis will not be the only player who gets chopped over the next week and a half. “Hopefully not if he plays like that,” he said, when asked if he could see anyone stopping the champion, “because if someone beats him when he’s playing like that, it means I’m even further off than I thought.”Having surprisingly dropped a set against Kwon Soon-woo on Monday, Djokovic could also sense the improvement in his game in just two days.
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