An inspired Novak Djokovic struck the first blow for Serbia in their historic Davis Cup World Group tie with Australia, romping to a straight-sets victory over Peter Luczak in Friday's opening singles rubber.
The world No.3 unveiled his full bag of tricks to bury Luczak into the Belgrade clay with a 6-1 6-4 6-2 triumph in two hours and 24 minutes at the Beogradska Arena.
Luczak's defeat left Lleyton Hewitt needing to beat Serbian No.2 Janko Tipsarevic in the second singles rubber to save Australia from a nightmare 2-0 first-day deficit in the crucial promotion-relegation tie.
Djokovic, the new hero of his war-torn homeland, could scarcely have been more impressive, conceding just nine points on serve in the opening two sets - and a meagre one in the first.
Mixing booming aces with exquisite backhand drops, the US Open runner-up was taken to deuce just twice in 13 games while forcing Luczak to scrap for almost every single one of his service games.
While valiant until the end, the writing was on the wall early for Luczak.
Playing only his third tie - and first in a full-strength Australian line-up - the 28-year-old claycourt specialist had to stave off four break points in his very first service game before finally submitting with a double-fault on the fifth.
Djokovic broke for a second time with a scorching forehand winner and clinical smash before closing out the set in 35 minutes.
Luczak rebounded quickly to confidently hold to love in the first game of the second set and kept pace with his classy opponent before Djokovic broke the Australian in the vital ninth game of the set.
And, cruelly, the temporary clay surface inside the 20,000-seater stadium that had caused so much anxiety in the lead-up to the tie was not kind to Luczak when it mattered most.
A devilish bounce that reared into Luczak's body gave Djokovic his brace of break points at 4-4 before another wicked one produced an air swing from Luczak on the very next point.
There was no way back for Luczak, Djokovic taking the second set with another ace before breaking the Australian No.2 in the opening game of the third set.
Djokovic had to fend four break points to consolidate for 4-2 but it was all but over when he broke Luczak again to go up 5-2.
The 20-year-old's victory sent the sellout crowd of 19,662 fans - the third largest in Davis Cup history - into a frenzy and left Serbia requiring two more rubbers from the best-of-five-match playoff for promotion to the elite 16-nation World Group at their first attempt as an independent country.
