Djokovic In Cruise Control; Ferrer Extended To Five Sets

© Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic has a 27-5 record in Melbourne.

Here’s a way to light a fire under World No. 1 Novak Djokovic: Break his serve.

In his first-round match Tuesday, the defending champion was broken in the third game and punished Italian Paolo Lorenzi by holding him off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

On Thursday, Colombian Santiago Giraldo beat Djokovic to the break, going up 3-2, only to see the Serbian win the next eight games. Djokovic cruised through the third set in 29 minutes with three more breaks of serve to clinch the 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory.

“To be honest, I’ve had lots of situations where I was break down in my career, so I guess that doesn’t affect me, especially early in the first set,” said Djokovic of his composure. “I knew that I will start hitting the ball better.” 

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The top seed will go for his 10th straight match win in Melbourne when he plays Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the third round. Djokovic has reached the quarter-finals or better in his past four tournament appearances, highlighted by his pair of titles in 2008 and ’11.

“If we get to play on the center court or any of the bigger courts, I will try to use my experience playing on those courts,” said Djokovic. “I think the surface here is a bit slower and bounce is a little bit higher, so maybe it's more suitable to my style of the game.”

Mahut, currently No. 81 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, defeated Tatsuma Ito of Japan 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-2, 6-2 to match his best Grand Slam showing. He also reached the third round on his Wimbledon debut in 2006.

World No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, who had bowed out in the second round of the Australian Open the past three years, was tested before seeing off Australian wild card James Duckworth 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 in three hours and 11 minutes. Duckworth, 19, was making his Grand Slam debut this week.

Spaniard David Ferrer improved to a 16-9 five-set record as he rallied to defeat American Ryan Sweeting 6-7(4), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in three hours and 28 minutes. The 68th-ranked Sweeting, who has four Grand Slam match wins to his name, was looking to defeat a Top 10 player for the first time in seven tries.

World No. 5 Ferrer, a semi-finalist last year in Melbourne, had opened the season by successfully defending the ATP World Tour 250 title last week in Auckland.