US Open 2020: Djokovic recovers from early blip to see off Edmund

The world number one had few issues in his previous outing as he improved to 24-0 for the year, but Edmund did initially cause Djokovic problems at Flushing Meadows.

Edmund, ranked 44 in the world, claimed the first set in a tiebreak as the possibility of a shock reared its head, but Djokovic stepped up thereafter and rarely looked in trouble.

After three hours and 13 minutes on court, Djokovic eventually saw off Edmund to set up a meeting with Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.

25-0 in 2020.The man is literally unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/I9uNumaRuz

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2020

Edmund more than held his own in a tight and well-matched first set, the Briton proving particularly adept when coming to the net as he read a couple of Djokovic drop shots to good effect.

Neither player could break the other's serve and the first set ultimately went to the tiebreak, but Djokovic was on the back foot early on as Edmund initially edged ahead.

A wayward cross-court shot at 5-5 from the Serb gifted his opponent a golden opportunity, which he grasped with a ferocious serve straight down the middle to take the lead.

But Djokovic's response was relatively swift, securing the first service break in the fourth game of the second set when an Edmund double fault proved decisive.

Djokovic saw out the set relatively comfortably, sealing it with an ace, before then cranking his game up another level and taking charge of the third with successive breaks, the second of which was to love.

The pair traded another trio of breaks in the following three games, with both players bizarrely error-prone, but Djokovic did eventually close the set out at the fourth time of asking.

Djokovic, seemingly anticipating few issues for the remainder of the match, let out a scream of joy as Edmund failed to hold his serve again at the start of the fourth, and the 17-time grand slam champion cruised thereafter to finish off the 25-year-old's resistance.

STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN

Djokovic [1] bt Edmund 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-2

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS Djokovic – 52/34 Edmund – 27/36

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS Djokovic – 16/3 Edmund – 7/6

BREAK POINTS WON Djokovic – 6 Edmund – 2

FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE Djokovic – 67 Edmund – 59

PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE Djokovic – 83/58 Edmund – 65/47