Djokovic fights back to avoid upset

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic survived a scare at the hands of American qualifier Jesse Witten as he reached the US Open fourth round.

The Serbian was playing the world number 276, and lost the first set and his temper in front of a Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd who were firmly and vocally behind the American underdog.

But Djokovic regrouped and eventually won 6-7 (2/7) 6-3 7-6 (7/2) 6-4.

Yet 26-year-old Witten, who knocked out 29th seed Igor Andreev in the first round for the first grand slam match victory of his career, gave Djokovic a battle throughout the three hours and 28 minutes on court.

Neither player had been able to get a firm hold of a topsy-turvy first set with both players being broken three times, Witten drawing first blood in the fourth seed’s second service game, only for Djokovic to break back immediately.

The momentum seemed to be with Djokovic when he broke again to establish a 5-2 lead, but Witten bounced back, breaking twice in a row with the help of some unforced errors from his more illustrious opponent.

Witten was unable to serve out, but the American got the better of the tie-breaker, dominating to claim the early advantage.

The see-saw nature of the match continued as Djokovic broke twice for a 3-0 lead in the second set, before his opponent levelled up at 3-3 with another powerful forehand.

Djokovic finally asserted his class, breaking again on a Witten double fault and holding, before clinching the set as the American lost control of his serve.

An air of normality finally descended as the third set went with serve, spoiled only by an extraordinary point which Djokovic lost as he accidentally propelled his racket across the net in his service action.

A forehand error from Djokovic gave Witten the break in game 11, but again he could not serve out the set and the Serbian comfortably came through the tiebreaker to claim a 2-1 lead.

Witten’s fitness looked to be becoming a problem, typified by a weak second serve for double fault at 3-3, but even if he was running on fumes, the American was being carried by the vocal Armstrong crowd and he held out for a 4-3 lead.

The wheels looked to have finally come off in the ninth game when Witten missed a backhand crosscourt pass into an open court and was punished as Djokovic went on to break the deadlock.

A break up at 5-4, the fourth seed served for the match but gave Witten and the crowd hope by falling 0-30 behind.

Djokovic got back on track thanks to some sloppy play from the American who netted a baseline forehand, and it was soon match point as Witten, at full stretch, sent a backhand long.

Djokovic duly clinched the match and set up a fourth-round meeting with 15th seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

Stepanek had earlier in the day beaten Germany’s 23rd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, coming from a set down to win 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3.