Photo credit: Gonet Geneva Open Facebook
Lobbying for cover from the drizzle, Novak Djokovic raised the roof over Court Philippe Chatrier.
Then Djokovic brought the walls down on Mackenzie McDonald.
6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to roll into the Roland Garros second round with his fifth straight clay-court victory.
Fueled by his run to his 100th career championship in Geneva on Saturday, Djokovic hit the terre battue running today.
In his first match at Roland Garros since he out-dueled Carlos Alcaraz in the Paris Olympics gold-medal match, Djokovic broke serve five times and controlled the center of the court throughout a one hour, 58-minute win.
Continuing his quest for a record-extending 25th major championship, Djokovic extended his dominance of non-seeded challengers. Since his stunning loss to 72nd-ranked Italian Marco Cecchinato in the 2018 RG quarterfinals, Djokovic is 81-0 against opponents ranked outside of the Top 30 in Grand Slam play.
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This match was interrupted for nearly eight minutes amid a light rain as Djokovic lobbied both chair umpire Damien Dumusois and referee Ali Nili to close the retractable roof because he said the breeze was blowing the rain in his eyes making it difficult to see and track the ball. A few minutes later, McDonald complained of the same issue.
“The rain is coming in my eyes,” Djokovic told the chair umpire. “You have the roof. What’s the problem?”
Though outer court play continued uninterrupted, both players pressed pause on Chatrier for a bit.
After about a near eight-minute delay, play resumed with the roof overhead in the process of closing. Djokovic drew successive errors from the American breaking for 4-2.
Sliding an ace down the middle brought Djokovic a third set point. The Serbian sealed an unruly opening set in 45 minutes.
The court was dryer but the deficit was deepening for McDonald, who missed a clear look at a forehand down the line dropping serve at love to hand Djokovic the break to start the second set.
Between the end of the first and start of the second set, Djokokvic lifted his level, cruising through 10 consecutive points for a 6-3, 2-0 lead.
Former UCLA all-American McDonald hung tough earning triple break point in the sixth game.
A calm Djokovic drilled a couple of aces and two stinging serves erasing all three break points and earning game point. Djokovic held firm for a 4-2 advantage.
That did not dampen McDonald’s experience. The newly-engaged McDonald pounced on the Serbian’s second serve and pounded a deep return breaking back for 3-5.
Undaunted, Djokovic froze McDonald with a deft drop shot from the backhand then drew a wild error breaking for a two-set lead after 85 minutes of play.
By then, Djokovic more than tripled McDonald’s winner output: 23 to 7.
The man sporting the penguin on his UCLA blue shirt, showed Bruin toughness fighting off four break points in the sixth game.
An unrelenting Djokovic refused to let McDonald off the hook. Ripping deep drives, Djokovic converted his fifth break point ending a seven-minute game for 4-2.
The fun thing about watching Djokovic is just when you think he’s shown you everything possible in his storied career, he shows you something else.
Sliding near net, Djokovic was holding his Head racquet with the frying pan grip when he slipped a no-look sharp-angled dropper. A streaking McDonald actually caught up to it but could not control his around the net post pass as Djokovic held for 5-2.
The sixth-seeded Serbian served out a one hour, 58-minute win at love. Djokovic improves to 97-16 lifetime in Paris chasing his fourth French Open championship.
Djokovic, who has won the Roland Garros title in two of his last four appearances, will face either Frenchman next: either French finesse artist Corentin Moutet or 280th-ranked qualifier Clement Tabur.