With temperatures hitting 97 degrees on a bright, sunny day at Melbourne Park, the 21-year-old Serb took a while settling in before beating Andrea Stoppini of Italy 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
Djokovic recovered a break in the second set and rallied from 4-0 down in the third.
Djokovic lost his first match of the year at Brisbane before getting a wild card for the Sydney International, where he reached the semifinals last week.
“I had a little slow start in the first two weeks, I didn’t play my best tennis,” he said. “Today I was very down in the second and third set, and I turned it around. Hopefully I can get going and get a good result here.”
Seventh-seeded Andy Roddick had no trouble finding his timing, making only 10 unforced errors in a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 win over 31-year-old Swedish qualifier Bjorn Rehnquist.
The 2003 U.S. Open champion lost only nine points in the first set, sealing it in 28 minutes after setting up triple set point with consecutive aces.
Roddick, a semifinalist in Australia every alternate year since 2003, came into the tournament as runner-up to fourth-ranked Andy Murray at the Qatar Open and hasn’t given up hope of winning a second major, despite the domination of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
“I’m 26, so I’m not quite over the hill,” he said. Another Grand Slam title “is what I’m shooting for.”
Federer, bidding to equal Pete Sampras’ record 14 major titles, had a night match against Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Roddick next plays Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, who earned a 7-6 (8), 6-1, 6-1 win over Michael Llodra of France.
Roddick’s friend and former housemate Mardy Fish had a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5, 6-0 win over local wild card-entry Samuel Groth.
Four American men made first-round exits.
Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, seeded 20th, beat Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Veteran Dominik Hrbaty, who guided Slovakia to a surprise title at the Hopman Cup international mixed team event in Perth earlier this month, beat John Isner in four sets.
Robert Kendrick lost to No. 16 Robin Soderling of Sweden in four sets and Bobby Reynolds went down in straight sets to No. 21 Tommy Robredo of Spain.
Others advancing on the men’s side were No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain, No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and 16-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic in his Grand Slam debut.
Gilles Muller of Luxembourg overcame No. 27 Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 4-6, 16-14 in a marathon match.
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