Djokovic hits back to reach Roland Garros second round

Paris:

Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic overcame a second-set blip to beat Kazakhstan's Evgeny Korolev 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in their first-round match at the French Open here on Monday.

The 2008 Australian Open champion, who suffered a health scare in Belgrade with an allergy problem, will now meet either Santiago Giraldo of Colombia or Japan's Kei Nishikori for a place in the third round.

Djokovic, a semi-finalist here in 2007 and 2008, was quickly into his stride and sewed up the first set in 27 minutes as his misfiring opponent managed to land just 29 percent of his first serves in the service box.

The Kazakh put up much stiffer resistance in the second set, breaking straight back after Djokovic had broken him and then breaking again to go 5-3 up before converting his first set point when Djokovic looped a return long.

Rattled, the Serbian world number three stormed into a 5-0 lead in the third set inside 20 minutes en route to restoring his one-set advantage and he was swiftly 3-1 up in the fourth set thanks to an early break.

A long forehand from Korolev in the ninth game gave Djokovic another break of serve, the fourth set and with it the match.