Indian Wells, March 10 -- Novak Djokovic battled past American Aleksandar Kovacevic in a three-set contest to reach the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Monday.
The Serbian great registered a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win in the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, marking his first appearance in the fourth round at Indian Wells since 2017, according to the ATP Tour website.
Djokovic, a five-time champion at the event, had also been taken to three sets in his opening match against Kamil Majchrzak earlier in the week.
"It was a great performance from Aleks. We know each other. We speak the same language. His whole family is Serbian," Djokovic said after the match. "I knew coming into the match that if he serve...