No one was expecting an easy match for the world number one, since Dustin Brown was the man responsible for Rafael Nadal's early exit at Wimbledon last season. However, the Serbian showed why he's atop the men's game with an easy 6-2, 6-2 win.
Dominant Djokovic Take Opening Set
It was a quick match and the first set was totally dominated by Novak Djokovic. The Serb started serving and had some troubles in his first service game, but it was a one-time thing as his other services were quick as a whistle. Playing stunning tennis, he jumped out to a 5-0 lead with Dustin Brown making too many errors.
The German was taking too many risks on his shots, and there were no long rallies. Brown got on the scoreboard by winning his first game, although Djokovic was serving for the set at 5-1. Djokovic lost some of his concentration and started missing some balls and gave the German two break points. The impeccable Djokovic was gone and the German-Jamaican broke his serve on the second break point. Brown was now serving to stay in the set, but Djokovic broke his serve right back to win the first set. The score was 6-2 to the Serbian.
Djokovic's Dominance continues
In the beginning of the second set, the match was a little bit tougher for Djokovic who saw the scoreboard leveled at two games apiece. However, that didn't stop him and from there on, he finished it off taking the set 6-2 off a double fault from the German. The final result was 6-2, 6-2 for the Serb.
Stats
Djokovic fired one ace and put 82 percent of his first serves in while Brown did not fire any aces and hit two double faults, which is likely due to the pressure put on by the Serb's fantastic return game. He put 50 percent of his first serves in as well. Novak Djokovic faced just two breakpoints in the match.
After the match
In the on-court interview, Nole (as the fans call him) thanked the crowd for watching the match despite the windy weather, wished a happy new year and talked about Dustin Brown:
"Definitely he is one of the most interesting players on the tour."
"Today he wasn't making any first serves and gave me the opportunity to step in."
What now?
The world number one will now face the winner of the match between Fernando Verdasco and Malek Jaziri for a place in the quarterfinals where he lost last year to Ivo Karlovic.
Dustin Brown, ranked 118 on the ATP, will travel to Melbourne Park where he is going to play the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open.