Australia Open: Djokovic Win Over Indian-Origin Basavareddy

New Delhi,  : The Serbian’s last  loss in the first round of a Grand Slam came at the hands of Paul Goldstein at the 2006 Australian Open, only a few months after Basavareddy was born to Indian parents in southern California. Goldstein went on to become Basavareddy’s head coach at Stanford University and for an hour it looked like the two Americans might well provide bookends to Djokovic’s extraordinary career at Melbourne Park. Basavareddy, making his Grand Slam debut, made Djokovic look like every one of his 37 years as he tore around Rod Laver Arena mixing clean winners with some beautifully deft drop shots. The 19-year-old had the crowd on their feet when he broke for 4-3 in the first set with a sizzling backhand return, again when he fought off two break points to hold for 5-3 and a third time when Djokovic dumped a backhand into the net to cede the set.

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