Novak Djokovic starts his Indian Wells campaign with a straight-sets win against Bjorn Fratangelo, but that wasn’t as smooth as expected.
The match
Nole had already some problems 3 years ago against Bjorn Fratangelo that managed to win the 1st set also in the 2nd round in Indian Wells, but then the world no.1 won 2-6 6-2 6-1.
That precedent was probably playing nicely on the American’s mind that started the contest playing fantastic tennis. Fratangelo broke Djokovic in the 5th game (3-2) and he had the chance to serve out the set while leading 5-4. However, the American started to be in trouble from the 9th game as Djokovic found his rhythm to win 11 consecutive games and conquer a good 6-5 lead. Eventually, the contest went to the breaker that Djokovic won at 5.
The second set was a more “normal” with Djokovic breaking Fratangelo twice before winning the match 7-6 (5) 6-2. The match ended after 89 minutes.
Next. vs. Kohlschreiber. Head to head and stats.
Nole will face Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 3rd round. The head to head is 8-1 for Djokovic that is the hot favorite to reach the 4th round.