The Croatian and New Zealander had everything going for them early, evidenced by the phenomenal rally the two won over their opponents in the second game that brought the crowd to its feet.
On serve in the second, Kyrgios unloaded on a forehand return against Mektic’s second serve to cinch a deciding point—and more importantly move his side of the court ahead 3-1. Maintaining their advantage, Djokovic and the Canberra native continued to gel, building leads of 6-3, 7-4 and 8-6 in the decider.
Following Djokovic’s double fault, Venus hit his spot on serve to set his partner up for the closing volley in leveling the scoreboard. Kyrgios then netted his return to bring up match point, when Mektic saved one of his best forehand strikes against the Aussie’s serve to complete the comeback.
“They hit some unbelievable shots. Down three points in the tiebreaker with how they were serving, it wasn’t looking great. Somehow we got back in there,” reacted Venus.
On Thursday, Djokovic will return to the court for his second-round singles match against Gael Monfils. The 37-year-old looks to make it 20-0 against the Frenchman in their series.
