Novak triumphs in gruelling clash

Novak Djokovic kept alive his hopes of ending Roger Federer’s dominance at the US Open in New York as the third-seeded Serb edged past Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

In an epic four-hour, 44-minute battle of nerves, the man who beat both Rafael Nadal and Federer en route to winning the ATP Masters Series in Montreal three weeks ago needed a fifth-set tie-break to finally put daylight between himself and the world number 35.

Djokovic won 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 7-5 7-6 (7-2), sinking to his knees after beating his adversary with a deft half-volley at the end of a tense final rally.

The final set had gone with serve to take the match into a deciding tie-break and it was then that Stepanek’s resolve finally crumbled.

Djokovic quickly gained control, taking a 3-1 lead and he never looked back from there, gaining match point at 6-1. Stepanek saved one but in the next point as he took up position at the net and fended a couple of Djokovic attacks with great volleys, the Serb finally found a way past and the battle was won.

The third seed will now face Juan Martin del Potro in round three, following the rising Argentinian player’s straight-sets defeat of number 31 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 6-3 6-1 6-4.

Number eight Tommy Robredo of Spain had a tough time with American Mardy Fish, last week’s Pilot Pen Championship runner-up.

Fish had the crowd on his side at Ashe and was 4-1 and 30-15 up in the fifth set before suddenly capitulating and losing 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 6-4.

“Credit to him, he stepped up his game,” Fish said, “but, I mean, I froze.

“Against top 10 players, top eight players in the world, you just can’t freeze like that.”

Asked to explain why he froze, Fish replied: “I think it had a lot to do with nerves.

“You know, the thought of being in the third round, having a favourable draw after Robredo didn’t cross my mind but obviously you get a little tired.”

Fish said he would try and take positives from the defeat, and try and forget his last-set collapse.

“That was a new situation for me. I played big matches before, but lately having played so well last week, played well here, I still can come out of this match losing 6-4 in the fifth to a guy that’s a top seed.

“You have to play pretty well to get that far. I guess there’s a little bit of positive you can take out losing a match like that.

“But I got tight.”

Ivan Ljubicic had no such problems with his unseeded opponent as he booked a place in the third round with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win over Romania’s Andrei Pavel. The 12th-seeded Croatian now plays Juan Ignacio Chela, a 6-3 6-1 7-5 winner over American Wayne Odesnik, for a place in the round of 16.