By DPA
Melbourne : Third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia passed an easy opening test at the Australian Open Tuesday as he dispatched German Benjamin Becker 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
The Serb winner who lost the final of his last Grand Slam, the US Open, to Roger Federer, was all but untroubled by the 81 ranked Becker, who ended Andre Agassi’s career at the 2006 US Open.
Djokovic’s level dropped slightly in the third set, which lasted longer than the first two combined.
But the third seed ended it with a cross-court winner off a net cord bounce. The defeat was the fifth for Becker in a grand slam first round.
“I played well at the start,” said Djokivic. “I almost lost the third set, who knows what would have happened?”