World No.1 Novak Djokovic showcased his full arsenal for a delighted Perth audience, defeating a brave Zhizhen Zhang in straight sets at RAC Arena.
Appearing in Perth for the first time in a decade, the world No.1 had the crowd on the edge of his seat as he defeated the top Chinese star 6-3 6-2 to open Serbia’s United Cup account.
The 24-time grand slam champion made his intentions clear from the outset, producing three consecutive aces against the world No.58.
Zhang showed composure on serve and some serious power, despite being tested like he never has before.
Even more impressively was the 27-year-old’s ability to save a break point early to hold and keep himself in the first set.
Djokovic opened it up just a few games later to win the first set in only 34 minutes.
Warmed up, Djokovic put the pedal down a little further with two early breaks to jump to a 4-0 lead.
Zhang did his best to stay in the contest with his strong service game, but Djokovic’s higher level in class was apparent as he opened up a match point at 5-1.
Even though Zhang managed to hold Djokovic off by saving the match point, he never looked like breaking Djokovic’s serve.
Therefore all he managed to do was hold off the inevitable, with Djokovic finishing the match as it started with an ace in 72 minutes.
“I was a little bit rusty at the beginning. I was out of the tempo, rhythm for maybe the first five, six games,” Djokovic said.
“But that’s normal when you don’t play an official match for over a month. It takes a little bit of time to get the engines going.
“He was serving well, he had nothing much to lose.
“The serve was great on my part, whenever I needed to get myself out of trouble at 15-all or 30-alls on my service games I’d find a good serve.
“When I broke his serve at 3-2 in the first set, I think the momentum shift to my side. I felt I was swinging through the ball with more ease.
“To win in straight sets for the first match of the season is always great.”
Djokovic still had his eye on the ultimate prize – an 11th Australian Open title.
“I’m still in the process of building the body and the form for Melbourne,” he said.
“The Australian Open is where I want to be at my 100 per cent hopefully. But this is as good as it gets for the opening week, and hopefully, I can build from here and go in the right direction.”
World No.15 Qinwen Zheng hit back for China with a straight-sets win over Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-4 6-2 to ensure the tie would be decided by the mixed doubles.
The tight first set lasted an hour as the pair traded breaks early before Zheng nabbed her second to take a 3-2 lead.
Danilovic did her best but couldn’t capitalise on two break points in a more than 10-minute game as Zheng held serve.
Zheng then flew out to a 4-0 lead in the second set, but Danilovic was able to fight back to keep herself in the game with a break of her own as her higher-ranked opponent gained control.