Novak Djokovic fell behind when he lost a tiebreaker for the first time this year but rallied past Kyle Edmund in the second round of the US Open on Wednesday in New York.
The top-seeded Djokovic won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Seeking his fourth US Open title, Djokovic lost a physical first set that took more than an hour. He had been 10-0 in tiebreakers previously this year.
Djokovic dominated from there, and won for the 19th time in his past 20 Grand Slam matches. He is 25-0 this year, including his 17th major title at the Australian Open. Going back to late last season, his winning streak is 28 matches overall.
Djokovic hit 16 aces and lost only 12 points on his first serve.
“I’m actually glad I did drop a set and got tested the way I did today against Kyle. I expected it to be a tough, tough task,” said Djokovic, who has won five of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments to raise his major trophy total to 17, three behind Roger Federer and two behind Rafael Nadal.
“I’m really glad having an early kind of tough match in the tournament,” Djokovic said, “because it kind of serves me better, I think, for the rest of the tournament.”
Next up for him is No. 28 Jan-Lennard Struff, someone Djokovic defeated 6-3, 6-1 last week at the Western & Southern Open.
Djokovic is among eight players who chose to rent one of the private Long Island homes the USTA made available — at a cost of $40,000 — instead of opting for the official tournament hotel options, as most players competing at Flushing Meadows amid the coronavirus pandemic did. Djokovic said Wednesday that the choice was an “obvious” one.
“Being in a hotel, you’re unable to open the window in the room. You constantly have to be with a mask indoors, outdoors, everywhere. You can’t really go out, spend time in the garden, maybe, outdoors,” he said. “I saw the hotel. The hotel is not in a best position in terms of having nature around. It’s very close to the highway.”
Earlier Wednesday, Alexander Zverev won his second-round match, using a dominating serve to beat 19-year-old American wild card Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-1.
Zverev, a German who is seeded fifth, regrouped after losing the tiebreaker when he double-faulted with a 133 mph serve. He overcame 10 double faults, hit 24 aces and won every service game.
Zverev advanced to his first career Grand Slam semifinal at this year’s Australian Open. His best showing at the US Open came last year, when he reached the fourth round.
Also advancing on Wednesday was No. 7 David Goffin, and No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas was scheduled to play at night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.