Just in the nick of time, Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic ensured Team Serbia could celebrate the new year with a winning feeling on Sunday night in Perth.
WTA star Danilovic and ATP World No. 1 Djokovic teamed for a 6-4, 1-6, 10/6 victory against China’s Zhang Zhizhen and Zheng Quinwen to ensure a triumphant United Cup debut for their country at RAC Arena. Danilovic and Djokovic won seven of the final 10 points to claim a one-hour, 27-minute triumph and clinch a 2-1 victory for Serbia shortly before midnight in its opening Group E tie.
“This was on my No. 1 bucket list, to play with Novak and to win. I’m so happy,” said Danilovic in Serbia’s on-court interview. “Thanks to everyone for staying and being with us here on New Year’s Eve. This was an incredible match, I know I gave my all and I’m so happy to finish 2023 like this.”
Djokovic added: “It was a very tough match against a team, China, that is in form. They won their first tie 3-0 and they are both brilliant players in singles and doubles. We managed to turn it around. Olga hung in there, she lifted her spirits and she was really good in the tie-break.”
After the ATP World No.1 Djokovic opened the tie with a 6-3, 6-2 singles win over Zhang, Zheng was faced with a must-win match against Danilovic. Coming off a three-set win over reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in her opener, Zheng kept her cool to keep the feisty 22-year-old Serbian at bay with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph.
China then appeared to have the momentum in the mixed doubles after racing to the second set as Zhang and Zheng combined impressively, but Danilovic and Djokovic gritted out a crucial triumph to keep alive their team's chances of winning the group.
Djokovic then invited the crowd to stay in their seats and celebrate the new year, an invitation that was warmly welcomed.
“Since it is only three or four minutes [until midnight], how about we celebrate the new year together?” Djokovic asked. “Stay a few minutes, we have a DJ who is going to play some music and we can do a countdown in a few minutes and celebrate together.”
No.15 Zheng Qinwen had earlier improved to 2-0 on the new season after defeating No.119 Danilovic in the WTA singles match. Bidding to tally her third career Top 20 victory, Danilovic jumped out to a 2-0 lead and found herself a point away from a 3-0 lead early in the first set. Zheng stormed back to take the next four games with the aid of a flurry of forehand winners.
The Chinese star appeared to have wrenched the momentum back for good, but Danilovic kept the pressure on. With Zheng serving for the opening set at 5-4, Danilovic earned two chances to level the set. Zheng responded with steely resolve, wiping away Danilovic's chances and coming through an 11-minute game to take the 61-minute set with a leaping backhand winner.
Zheng rode out her momentum to a 4-0 lead in the second set and closed out the win with her eighth ace of the match after 1 hour and 37 minutes.
The No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings Djokovic opened the tie by easing past Zhang 6-3, 6-2 to give Serbia a 1-0 lead in Perth. Djokovic was rock-solid in all facets of his game as he notched a 74-minute triumph in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Zhang.
“It’s great to be back in Perth,” said Djokovic, before addressing the crowd. “New year’s is in a few hours so I really appreciate you coming to hopefully celebrate new year’s eve with us here on the court. It’s been 10 years since I’ve been in Perth, and this arena is definitely one of the nicest, from inside and outside, that I’ve played in.
“Obviously Australia has been my happy place. The place where I made the most Slam wins in Melbourne, and I love coming back. I missed playing in Perth as well.”
Djokovic converted three of seven break points he earned to delight the Serbian contingent in the stands at RAC Arena. He is now 17-1 in season-opening matches since the start of 2007.
“I was a little bit rusty in the beginning, a little bit out of rhythm in the first five or six games, but it’s normal,” said Djokovic. “When you don’t play an official match for over a month, it obviously takes a little bit of time to get the engines going and he was serving well. I think the serve was great on my part, whenever I needed to get myself out of trouble, at 15/15 or 30/30 in my service games, I found a good serve.”
