World no1 Novak Djokovic was given a mighty scare by Czech Tomas Machac in his opening round but managed to survive a three-set contest to continue his journey.
The Australian Open champion looked rusty during his 6-3 3-6 7-6(1) win but his experience bailed him out of tough spots at important junctures of the game.
Nothing looked out of sorts early in the opening set before the Serb’s serve seem to fail him during the middle games before Djokovic recovered in time to take a 1-0 lead. Machac equalised the contest at one set apiece after racing to a 3-0 lead in the second stanza to send the game into a decider.
Normal service was resumed when the Serb was up 3-1 before his lead quickly dissipated against the big-hitting Czech with a tiebreak needed to decide the winner.
Djokovic then did what Djokovic does best and raised his game just in time to squeeze past the 130th-ranked Machac for his 13th win on the trot.
He will take on Dutch Tallon Griekspoor in his next contest.
Meanwhile, in other contests, the third-seed Daniil Medvedev had little trouble getting past Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-4 6-2 while Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated American Maxime Cressy 7-6(4) 3-6 6-3 and Botic van de Zandschulp eliminated Melbourne semi-finalist Karen Khachanov 7-5 6-2.
Alexander Bublik and Borna Coric also reached the next round.
