Djokovic survives Monfils scare to reach Australian Open third round

Former world number one and Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic survived an early scare from France's Gael Monfils to storm into the third round of the Australian Open for the 11th time here on Thursday.

The 14th seed, who is bidding to clinch his sixth Australian Open title, went down in the first set, but he rebounded strongly to eventually prevail Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in a thrilling second-round clash at the Melbourne Park.

With the win, Djokovic has clinched 14 wins over the Frenchman in their Head-to-Head series, including the Serbian's victory during the 2016 US Open semi-finals.

On Tuesday, Djokovic since he was forced to retire during his Wimbledon quarter-final clash against Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych.

The Serbian tennis maestro showed no signs of the elbow injury that cut short his 2017 season as he eased past Young 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in a one-sided opening round clash of the men's singles event that lasted one hour and 51 minutes at the Margaret Court Arena.

Djokovic will now lock horns with A. Ramos-Vinolas of Spain in the third round of the first major of the season.

--ANI