Novak Djokovic feels his big US Open comeback win is going to “send a strong message” to his competition. On Friday night, Djokovic stunningly found himself down by two sets to world No 38 Laslo Djere. Down by two sets, No 2 seed Djokovic stormed back to beat Djere 4-6 4-6 6-1 6-1 6-3 in the US Open third round. “Winning a match is always better than losing a match. It’s as simple as that. I think the message is sent to the rest of the field that obviously I’m still able to play five sets deep at night. Coming from two sets down always sends a strong message to the future opponents. At the same time I’m not really wanting to be in this position, to be honest. I prefer a straight-set win. Hopefully I can get back on that track in the next match,” Djokovic said after clinching a big comeback win over Djere.
Novak Djokovic© Getty Images Sport – Al Bello
Djokovic creates a big comeback, avoids a shock loss to Djere
In each of the first two sets, Djere claimed one break and that was enough for him to open a two-set lead. After failing to get a single break in the first two sets, Djokovic broke Djere twice in the third set and lost no service games to cut the deficit to two sets to one. In the fourth set, Djokovic lost one of his service games but still very easily won the set after breaking Djere four times. Djokovic then also claimed an early fifth-set lead as he broke Djere for a 3-0 lead. Up by an early break, Djokovic held on to his service for the remainder of the match to complete a big five-set win. Meanwhile, it was the second meeting between Djokovic and Djere. Last year, Djere was up by a set against Djokovic in Belgrade before the Serb stormed back to win their Belgrade round-of-16 match.
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