Midway through Tuesday evening, Novak Djokovic looked in real trouble. Valentin Vacherot, who had lifted the Basel trophy only two days earlier, had pocketed the opening tie-break, grabbed an early break in set two and kept launching serves that the Serbian later admitted he struggled to pick. Yet by the end Djokovic had turned it into a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-1 victory and a place in round two in Paris.
The win also rewrote a small piece of tournament history. No one older had ever won a match at this event: Jimmy Connors managed it at the same age back in 1991, and Djokovic now edges ahead of him. It was win number 51 for the record champion at the tournament, and it snapped four consecutive defeats at the top tier of the tour, a losing streak he had never suffered before at that level.
Each player called the physio during the contest, Djokovic for his shoulder and Vacherot later for his ankle. Everything hinged on 4-4 in the second set, where three break points went begging for the man from Monaco. Djokovic broke him two games later to square the match and then cruised through the decider while his opponent, visibly drained after his Basel week, sprayed errors despite 22 aces in total. The veteran said the court played “like ice” and noted that Vacherot hit his second serve harder than he hits his first.
Turin remains within reach. Djokovic is 11th in the season race with 2,940 points, two places short of automatic qualification for the ATP Finals, and probably has to reach the last four this week. Asked whether that was his motivation, he insisted he simply wanted to win every match he plays.
His next opponent is Rinky Hijikata, a qualifier from Australia.
