Djokovic holds off Tiafoe; Venus hobbles out in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Frances Tiafoe had never played a No. 1, had never beaten anyone in the Top 5, and now he’d just won a tiebreaker against Novak Djokovic to level their second-round match at the Australian Open.

He nodded, soaked up the applause, skipped around the court motioning for more noise before plonking down in his courtside chair and saying what everyone watching already knew: “I love this. … I love it!”

That lasted right up until the pivotal moment in the fourth set, serving at 3-all, 30-all, when he walked to the side of the court to get a towel, dry his face, and didn’t resume play before the countdown clock ran out. He was given a time violation by the chair umpire, and docked a serve.

He lost that game, and didn’t win another.

The 23-year-old American, quarterfinalist here two years ago, threw everything he could at eight-time Australian Open champion Djokovic but it wasn’t quite enough, with the defending champion winning 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-3 in a 3 1/2-hour afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena.

“I felt like that kind of broke the match, honestly,” Tiafoe said. “And he ran off with it.

“Hats off to him, but that was a terrible ending to the match, to such a high-quality match.”

Tiafoe shook his head after finishing the match with a double-fault, then jogged to the net to embrace Djokovic. He’ll take plenty from this. He said he knows he can compete at this level.

“He pushed me to the very limit,” Djokovic said. “He’s a very quick player. It’s unpredictable what comes next … I’m really glad to overcome such a battle.”

Djokovic served 26 aces, Tiafoe 23. Djokovic had the edge in terms of winners (56-49) and converted five of his break-point chances, while Tiafoe converted two of his three.

After taking a quick look at the stats, Djokovic said he couldn’t remember serving more aces, or seeing more serves pass him, in a match in a long time.

“Credit to him,” Djokovic said, “for forcing me to feel uncomfortable.”

He also said in his on-court, post-match interview that Tiafoe got a tough call. It was hot and sunny — the temperature topped 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) — and Tiafoe had just lost a long rally.

“Those kinds of things are just unlucky,” Djokovic said. “He deserved to have the first serve.”

Tiafoe later said he was glad Djokovic acknowledged it, but he still thinks there needs to be “conversations” about allowing more time between points while COVID-19 pandemic restrictions mean ballkids can’t hold the towels for players.

“Could I have handled it better? Yes,” Tiafoe said, answering his own question. “Yeah, I mean, that just broke me. I’m out there battling world No. 1, and like he needs any more help, you know.”

Djokovic will play another American in the third round after No. 27-seeded Taylor Fritz who held off Reilly Opelka 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, wasted a big lead in the fifth-set tiebreaker — and three match points — before succumbing 7-5, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (9) to Marton Fucsovics.

Dominic Thiem, who lost the final last year to Djokovic but went one better to win the U.S. Open, took a short route to the third round with a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 win over Donimik Koepfer.

So did another U.S. Open champion, Naomi Osaka, who needed only an hour to sweep Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3.

Serena Williams kept her bid for a 24th Grand Slam singles title on track, making only 11 unforced errors as she defeated Nina Stojanovic 6-3, 6-0.

But a 21st trip to Melbourne Park ended painfully for her older sister, Venus Williams.

The seven-time major champion was trailing 1-5 in the opening set against Sara Errani when she landed awkwardly on her ankle as she approached the net for a volley. She fought back tears before receiving treatment on the ankle, and gamely continued, hobbling between points, before losing 6-1, 6-0.

The 40-year-old Williams was making her 88th Grand Slam main draw appearance, the most among women in the Open era.

Former U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, coming back from 15 months out with injury, became the latest top-10 player to be beaten by Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan. The eighth-seeded Andreescu’s power was no match for Hsieh’s shot-making in a second-round upset, 6-3, 6-2.

Hsieh is ranked 71st and has a history of inconsistency, but she’s 8-2 against top 10 players.

“It’s strange. I normally feel more excited to play with better players,” Hsieh said.

Ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and the 2019 Australian Open runner-up, lost to Sorana Cirstea and second-seeded Simona Halep narrowly averted an early exit, coming back from 5-2 down in the third set to beat No. 72 Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

French Open champion Iga Swiatek beat Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-4 and advanced along with seventh-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, 2020 Australian Open runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza and Ann Li, a 20-year-old American who beat Alize Cornet 6-2, 7-6 (6).

Six-seeded Alexander Zverev beat American qualifier Maxime Cressy 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. Earlier, No. 11 Denis Shapovalov beat Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, advancing along with two other Canadians, Milos Raonic and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

___

AP Sports Writer Steven Wine in Miami contributed to this report.

___

More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports