Djokovic survives after epic against Cilic
Monday, 01 Sep 2008 09:29
Third seed Novak Djokovic survives scare in US Open third round
Third seed Novak Djokovic survived a major scare in the third round of the US Open, taking four hours to beat Croatian teenager Marin Cilic.
The world number three and reigning Australian Open champion looked in danger of being the highest-ranked men's player to tumble out of the tournament as he struggled to deal with the 19-year-old's vim and vigour on court.
Cilic took the first set with a gutsy victory in a tiebreak 9-7 and looked to be taking Djokovic to a second decider in the following set before dropping serve at the crucial moment.
The Serbian star still looked out of form, but managed to scrape through the third set courtesy of two breaks to Cilic's one.
And despite seeing the youngster save two match points in the fourth set to take it to a tiebreak, the Croatian capitulated and failed to win a single point to send Djokovic into round four.
There, he will meet Spain's Tommy Robredo who went through against the man Djokovic beat in the Australian Open final earlier this year, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in straight sets 7-6 6-2 6-3.