More than struggling against his opponent, Djokovic had to hurry to close the match out before it got too dark and would have to finish on another day.”Then (in the third set) the night show started. I dropped my serve, the games were very long, Pascal was on fire. He was coming down from his chair. Yeah, and we went deep into night. We played to the maximum extent of time we could, I think, with the light. I’m just glad I managed to finish tonight.”
Djokovic took an early break in the first set, and broke again when Bedene was serving to stay in the set and broke under pressure. In the second set, Djokovic developed a great lead of 5-1, but Bedene took one break back before Djokovic served the second set out 6-3. Djokovic took a break early in the third set as well, but Bedene broke back for 2-2. Djokovic broke to 3-2, and broke again, putting Bedene under pressure and winning the set 6-3.
“Oh, after second set I started thinking about it, honestly,” said Djokovic when asked about whether he feared he would have to return on Sunday. “In the beginning, I just focused on my performance. I tried to come up with the right tactics and execution of the tactics, which I did, I think.
