Djokovic stunned by epic success

Novak Djokovic kept alive his hopes of ending Roger Federer’s dominance at the US Open by edging past Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

In an epic battle lasting four hours 44 minutes, 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 see off the world number 35.

Djokovic won 6-7 7-6 5-7 7-5 7-6, sinking to his knees after finally sealing a draining victory.

“I have to say that I’m very proud of myself today because I don’t even know how I managed to win because I was not on top of my game,” Djokovic said.

“I’m not too happy with my performance. I had a lot of negative elements in the game and I didn’t serve well.”

Even so, Djokovic said he was happy to have been part of such an exciting match.

“It was a lot of fun. We had great entertainment and the crowd loved it.

“It was the longest match in this year’s US Open and it was quality tennis as well.”

The third seed will now face Juan Martin del Potro in round three after the Argentinian defeated Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3 6-1 6-4.

Eight seed 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 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 6-4.

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

“Against top players in the world, you just can’t freeze like that. I think it had a lot to do with nerves.

“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.”

The biggest upset of the day was Germany’s Phillipp Kohlschreiber beating 11th seed Mikhail Youzhny, the Russian who reached last year’s semi-finals.

Kohlschreiber came from a set down to win 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-3 and next meets Carlos Moya of Spain.

Ivan Ljubicic had no problems with his unseeded opponent as he booked a place in the third round with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 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.