(REUTERS) – Serbia’s Novak Djokovic caught his second wind in the nick of time to overcome Davis Cup team-mate Viktor Troicki 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round on a brutally hot day at the US Open Djokovic, who has struggled in the heat in the past, looked beaten after trailing 3-1 in the fourth set but the third seed came roaring back to avoid his first opening-round loss in a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open.
The former Australian Open champion and US Open runner-up broke the big-serving Troicki, ranked 47th, in the sixth game to put the set back on serve and again in the 12th to force a fifth set which he won with relative ease.
The victory lifted Djokovic to a second-round match against Philipp Petzschner of Germany, who beat Dusan Lojda of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 to advance.
Marcos Baghdatis became the highest seed to fall so far at this year’s US Open when he was beaten in a five-set thriller by seasoned Frenchman Arnaud Clement at a steamy Flushing Meadows.
The Cypriot 16th seed led by two sets to one and then by 3-1 in the fifth set but eventually went down 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 to the 32-year-old Clement, who clinched his first win since Wimbledon.
In the battle of the two former Australian Open finalists, Baghdatis recovered from a poor start to storm through the second and third sets for the loss of just three games.
But Clement snatched the fourth and then came from 3-1 down to seal victory and a meeting with either American Robby Ginepri or Eduardo Schwank of Argentina.
American Mardy Fish avoided bowing out of the first round for the fourth time in his career with a dogged 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Jan Hajek.
Fish continued his strong 2010 to date with a faultless first-set display in which his Czech opponent was not given a moment to settle.
He looked on course for a comfortable straight-sets victory but the number 19 seed’s normally reliable serve fell apart in the next two sets as Hajek edged towards a major upset.
Fish, a first-round loser at the US Open in 2000, 2001 and 2005, had a miserable first-serve percentage of 40 percent in the third set and cut a disgruntled figure on court.
But as the shadows increasingly came over the Grandstand court, giving both players some respite from the rising temperatures, Fish managed to recapture his earlier good form.
On the resumption of play in the fourth set, his serving accuracy noticeably shot up and he immediately got the break on the opening Hajek serve to add greater spring to his step.
In contrast, Hajek’s game fell apart and the 27-year-old, playing only his 12th grand slam singles encounter, managed to win a solitary game in the final two sets and twice had to be treated by the trainer for an injury to his right hand.
As a previously topsy-turvy encounter reached a one-sided finale, a lightweight Fish, who shed 30 pounds ahead of the season start after undergoing knee surgery, produced the sort of tennis that earned him back-to-back titles on American soil earlier this year.