Djokovic endures five sets against Troicki

At their last match in New Haven a week ago, Novak Djokovic handled his childhood rival and current 47th seed Viktor Troicki the way you might expect: He beat him in straight sets.

Not so with Tuesday's opening round match in Arthur Ashe stadium - a four-hour, brutish slog through five sets that ended with Djokovic one step ahead, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Djokovic took the first set on a wicked forehand pass from deep in the court, but he came out in the second looking tired and out of sorts.

Troicki pressed his advantage, serving three service winners to open the set. He has a big, oddly lurching service motion unlikely to be taught by any coach, but today it was surprisingly effective, routinely breaking the 130-mph mark and then some. Nine more aces or service winners followed before he finished with a faked forehand drive that turned at the last second into an elegant drop shot.

Djokovic continued to wilt; Troicki bloomed, acing his way through the third set in a mere half-hour, making fans wonder if an upset in the offing.

"Look, I've been in these situations before," Djokovic said in the post-match interview. "I've played a lot of long matches in very difficult conditions, feeling very exhausted... You kind of start panicking a bit when you don't feel great physically."

It looked that way when Troicki jumped to a 3-1 lead in the third set. He was one break point away from extending that lead when Djokovic sprang to life, generating big power to end a forehand exchange with a cross court winner. Troicki dumped a routine rally ball into the net to end that game, an error he would surely regret.

"I tried to tell myself, hang in there, you know, the chance will come. He will get tired too," Djokovic said.

He was right about that. Troicki never regained the lead in that set and looked exhausted in the fifth, moving awkwardly for shots and crouching between points, as if his muscles rebelled against the very act of standing.

His unforced error tally climbed rapidly - it eventually reached 61 - as he tried to end points early.

The world's number three had not dazzled, but he had done enough, and he left the court smiling.