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By Ed Osmond
MELBOURNE, Jan 15 - Third seed Novak Djokovic
made a confident start to his Australian Open title bid with an
emphatic 6-0 6-2 7-6 win over German Benjamin Becker in the
first round on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Serb won the first seven games of the
match, taking the opening set in 22 minutes, and although
Becker forced a tiebreak in the third set, Djokovic was always
in control.
He clinched victory when his opponent sent a crosscourt
forehand wide before entertaining the crowd during his on-court
interview with an impersonation of women's fifth seed Maria
Sharapova.
"I started really well because I was really nervous before
the match," Djokovic told reporters. "He is a good player but I
was really focused at the start of the match.
"I lost my momentum a little bit but he played well in the
third set so it was good to win the first match in straight
sets."
Becker, who ended Andre Agassi's career by beating him at
the 2006 U.S. Open, finally held his serve at the fourth
attempt and briefly threatened a recovery when he broke
Djokovic to love at the start of the third set.
Last year's U.S. Open runner-up quickly regrouped by
breaking Becker to love to level at 2-2 but the German refused
to lie down, forcing a tiebreak and racing into a 3-0 lead.
Djokovic stayed calm, however, winning the tiebreak 7-5 to
clinch victory in just over two hours.
The Serb, seeking his first grand slam title, plays Italian
Simone Bolelli in the second round.
"People expect me to go far because of my results in
hardcourts in 2007 but I am trying not to think about that too
much, just to focus on my game," Djokovic said.
"It's all about how you deal with the pressure."
(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)