Tennis-Djokovic survives Popyrin scare to reach third round

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Defending champion Novak Djokovic survived a huge scare before beating home hope Alexei Popyrin 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old Serb, bidding for a record-extending 11th crown in Melbourne, was in deep trouble in the third set when errors began to flow and he had to save four set points.

With the packed night-time crowd on the edge of their seats, top seed Djokovic used his vast experience to win the pivotal tiebreak and then broke a dispirited Popyrin midway through the fourth set to finally seize control.

Djokovic duly racked up his 30th successive victory at the Australian Open — his last defeat coming in 2018 — but for the second successive round he was pushed hard.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)