Stat of the Day: Novak Djokovic records milestone 90th Australian Open win of career

After cruising through the first set on Sunday night, Djokovic dropped the second set in a tie-break and found himself down a break at 3-2 in the third—but that’s when the 10-time Australian Open champion bounced back, winning eight games in a row to take the third and build a 4-0, double-break lead in the fourth.

Prizmic got one of the breaks back but it was just a little bit too late as Djokovic wouldn’t let go of the second break and served the match out after four hours and one minute on court.

“He deserved every applause, every credit that he got tonight,” Djokovic said of Prizmic in his on-court interview with Jim Courier. “He’s an amazing player, I must say, so mature for his age. He handled himself on the court incredibly well.

“This is his moment, honestly. I mean, it could have easily been his match as well, he was a break up in the third. He fought, even though he was 4-0 down and a break point down for 5-0, he fought, he showed great mentality, resilience.

“He made me really run for my money tonight, that’s for sure.”

Djokovic has now won his last 68 first-round matches at majors.

Up next for the world No. 1 will be the winner of the all-Aussie first-round match between Alexei Popyrin and wild card Marc Polmans.