Taylor Fritz must be left wondering how on earth to beat Novak Djokovic.
The American had never achieved it in eight previous encounters but for two sets of sublime tennis looked on course for a major upset against the 10-time Australian Open champion.
In the end his level of performance and his body on a searingly hot day in Melbourne eventually eluded him in a 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat.
The big-serving Fritz saved 15 break points in an opening two sets which combined lasted two-and-a-half hours. When Djokovic finally broke at the 16th attempt in set three it marked the beginning of the end of a valiant effort by the No12 seed.
Djokovic himself was clearly struggling with the conditions too, needing a bag of ice on his head at the end of set two to try and bring his body temperature down.
Afterwards, the world No1 said: “It was extremely hot conditions. The hottest of this year no doubt. I was on the back foot quite a lot. The first couple of sets was a real struggle, physically, mentally, emotionally. My conversion of break points today was really poor, four from 21.
“I felt much better in the third and fourth. I managed to break him when it mattered in the third and fourth. I think I upped my game midway through the third set all the way to the end.”
But for much of the early exchanges – the opening game itself lasted 16 minutes – neither playing could be separated as they attempted to bludgeon each other off the court.
Fritz had break and set points of his own in set one but couldn’t convert them and Djokovic made him pay, racing into a 4-0 lead in the resulting tiebreak and his opponent never getting to within three of his lead.
Any sense Djokovic might run away with it were dispelled when he was broken in the opening service game of the second set.
Fritz’s resurgence was shortlived. He was twice broken in the third set and, while he traded early breaks in the fourth, the Serbian quickly ran away with the win.
