Australian Open 2023 results: Novak Djokovic wins but Casper Ruud loses to Jenson Brooksby
Djokovic entered the Rod Laver Arena with his left thigh heavily taped but it was his opponent Couacaud who struggled with injury early on, rolling his right ankle midway through the first set and requiring a medical timeout.
Djokovic cruised through the rest of the opener but twinges in his hamstring - which was already bothering him before the start of the tournament - slowed him down and allowed Couacaud into the contest. The Serb left the court for treatment and returned with fresh, tighter dressing on his leg.
The 27-year-old Frenchman, making his Australian Open debut in 2023, took advantage and forced the 21-time Grand Slam champion into a second-set tie-break as the crowd got behind his every shot, much to Djokovic's frustration.
With play defying his ranking of 191, Couacaud bounced back from 3-0 down in the tie-break to mark the first time Djokovic has lost a set to a qualifier or lucky loser in Melbourne since 2009.
But something switched in Djokovic's mind at that point, and his relentlessness returned. The fourth seed breezed through the third set in little over half an hour, although faced another challenge in the fourth set in the form of hecklers in the crowd who he said were "drunk out of their mind".
After asking the umpire "what he was going to do about it", the hecklers were eventually removed and Djokovic regained his focus, knocking Couacaud out with a bagel he did not deserve.
Djokovic will play his "Balkan brother" Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the third round, a player he has beaten on nine occasions but not played since 2019.
"A lot happened tonight in tonight's match," Djokovic said in his on-court interview.
"Enzo deserves credit for the fight, he played some great tennis, especially in the second set.
"We both had medical timeouts and struggled a little but, but I managed to respond well in the third and especially the fourth."
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