Djokovic was slow off the blocks in his first match at his home tournament. He dropped serve twice as Djere pocketed the opening set and grabbed an early break in the second. However, the 34-year-old recovered to force a decider after coming within two points of defeat in the tie-break.
Djokovic struggled for fluency in the third set as well, but managed to force another tie-break, where he capitalized on a Djere forehand error at 4-3. The top-ranked Serb reeled off the final four points of the tie-break to advance and set up a clash with Kecmanovic.
Speaking after the match, Djokovic joked that he never felt stronger and was looking forward to another fight in the next round.
The Serb pointed out that Kecmanovic has played well this year and has the potential to reach the top of the game. However, at the same time, he said he hoped Kecmanovic wouldn’t bring his A-game to the fore in their last-eight clash on Thursday.
Djokovic beat Kecmanovic in the Belgrade quarterfinals last year in their only previous meeting on tour.
“Laslo was better during most of the match” - Novak Djokovic
Coming off a shock second-round defeat to young Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at Monte-Carlo, Novak Djokovic was looking to bounce back in front of his home fans in Belgrade. However, the World No. 1 came perilously close to another early exit.
His failure to convert three set points in the 12th game of the second set against Laslo Djere almost proved costly. The World No. 1 came within two points of defeat at 6-6 in the ensuing tie-break but banked on his big-match experience to pull through.
Djokovic had no qualms admitting that Djere was the better player on the night.
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