Novak Djokovic Struggles but Beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 2019 Australian Open

Novak Djokovic navigated through a difficult second-round clash at the 2019 Australian Open on Thursday as he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

The world No. 1 was some way from his best, but even on an off day he is difficult to beat, and Tsonga simply missed too many opportunities to press home an advantage.

Djokovic eventually came through in two hours, four minutes on the Rod Laver Arena. He will face No. 25 seed Denis Shapovalov in the third round.

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Due to a rain delay and some lengthy earlier matches, Djokovic and Tsonga did not get under way until 10:35 p.m. local time on Thursday.

And they could have been playing deep into the early hours had the Frenchman not made crucial errors at the most vital moments.

Djokovic was the first to break in the match, going 3-1 in front in the opener with a stinging cross-court forehand.

Rather than letting the top seed get away from him, Tsonga broke straight back, only to make key errors to allow Djokovic to reestablish his two-game lead for 4-2.

There was no break-back this time from Tsonga, and Djokovic served out the opening set to take control of the contest:

He did not look overly comfortable, though, and at 3-2 behind was forced to save two break points in order to draw back level.

In the very next game he then got a break of his own as Tsonga missed a winner at the net, but the 33-year-old got back on level terms when Djokovic was serving for the set with a break to love for 5-5.

It looked as though, if Tsonga could just get his nose in front, he may be able to make a genuine contest of the encounter.

Oddly, given Djokovic's legendary stamina, he looked like the player who would struggle most if the match went long.

Having levelled in the second set, though, Tsonga imploded, gifting Djokovic a string of points with foolish unforced errors as the six-time Melbourne champion watched on from the other side of the net.

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Tsonga was unable to consolidate his break, and Djokovic duly served out the set at the second time of asking.

It was a similar scenario in the third set. The pair exchanged routine holds for 2-2, and Tsonga looked to be continuing the trend at 40-0 ahead in the fifth game.

A remarkable return and near-impossible pick-up from Djokovic played their part in getting him back to deuce, but again Tsonga was sloppy at the crucial moment and dropped an essential service game.

It was on such fine margins that the game turned. Had Tsonga reduced the amount of mistakes he made—he had 32 unforced errors in the match—he could well have toppled the tournament favourite, or at least stretched the match out longer. 

As it was, Djokovic simply had to hold serve for the remainder of the third set to book his spot in the next round.