Italian Open 2022: 3 things that stood out in Novak Djokovic's 2R win over Aslan Karatsev

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Aslan Karatsev of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome on Tuesday. The match lasted an hour and a half as the Serb did not have much trouble avenging his loss to the Russian at the Belgrade Open last year.

On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out in Tuesday's match:

#1 Novak Djokovic and Aslan Karatsev traded early breaks

Novak Djokovic started the match in great fashion by breaking Aslan Karatsev in the second game. Karatsev held his own in most of the baseline exchanges, but could not limit his unforced-error count. Djokovic, on the other hand, was his usual accurate self and waited for his opponent to make mistakes.

Karatsev got his act together temporarily and broke the Serb in the third game. The Russian then went on to hold his serve to level the score at 2-2. As expected, there were a number of crosscourt backhand exchanges between the two. Karatsev executed his groundstrokes with great power, but had trouble hitting through the Serb on the slow surface.

#2 Novak Djokovic started punishing Karatsev’s serve as the unforced errors piled up for the Russian

Midway through the set, Novak Djokovic started to gain the upper hand as Karatsev’s first serve percentage dropped. The 20-time Grand Slam winner started punishing Karatsev’s weaker second serve by adopting an advanced return position.

Meanwhile, Djokovic’s own first serve ratio remained at a very poor 43% in the first set, but the Russian failed to take advantage.

Djokovic managed to break Karatsev in the eighth game and then served out the first set. On a slow surface, Djokovic and Karatsev could only hit six and eight winners, respectively, in the first set. However, the Russian committed 18 unforced errors against Djokovic’s eight and that made the difference in the end.

#3 Novak Djokovic’s forehand and net play improved in the second set as Karatsev surrendered meekly

Aslan Karatsev committed too many unforced errors to pose a serious challenge to Novak Djokovic

Djokovic got a break in the very first game of the second set and shut the door on the Russian thereafter. He broke the World No. 35 again in the sixth game to race to a 5-1 lead. Karatsev held his serve in the subsequent game to reduce the deficit. However, Djokovic had no problem serving out the match.

Karatsev's tactics left a lot to be desired. He frequently played crosscourt forehands to Djokovic’s forehand wing in the second set, and the Serb’s superb defense ensured that he was able to get to the ball most of the time and take control of the rallies. Moreover, his subtle touches at the net were often too good for the Russian.

Karatsev committed a high number of unforced errors in the second set and was vulnerable on his second serve. He could win only 33% of the points on his second serve in the match. The clinical Djokovic, on the other hand, committed only two unforced errors in the second set.

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Also Check Out :-Italian Open 2022 Results