MELBOURNE // Boris Becker’s first priority will be to help Novak Djokovic gain a “mental edge” when the pressure rises at the grand slams, the Australian Open champion said in Melbourne yesterday.

Djokovic, who will bid for a record-extending fourth straight title at Melbourne Park when the tournament gets underway on Monday, last month hired the six-time grand slam-winning German to be his head coach.

Becker, 46, was a keen observer at the invitational Kooyong Classic, where Djokovic prepared for the heat of the year’s first grand slam with a 7-5, 6-1 exhibition victory over Argentine world No 42 Juan Monaco.

“I’m really glad and honoured to have Boris in our team as my head coach,” Djokovic said. “I sincerely hope he can bring that mental edge because he recognises the situations that one top player is facing, especially during the grand slams and the pressures and expectations, and the clutch moments.

“That’s what we’re hoping to work on and improve the most. And of course a couple of other elements of my game. I can never serve as well as he did, but I can just hope to improve.”

After working hard late in the season to take Serbia to the Davis Cup final, Djokovic has had a low-profile build-up, shunning the season-opening events after winning the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.

But he was pleased to get back in front of an appreciative Melbourne audience, clowning around with a TV camera before his match with Monaco and raising catcalls from the crowd when he turned a regulation shirt change into a playful striptease.

After a scratchy opening set, Djokovic quickly found his range, racing away in the second to close out the match in 67 minutes.

“It’s great to be back, I love Australia, I love coming back here. I miss it,” he said.

“You don’t get [ranking] points and it doesn’t really count winning or losing the match, but of course you want to win, especially when so many people are coming.”

Elsewhere, Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova reached her first WTA final with a semi-final win over second-seeded Petra Kvitova at the Sydney International.

The world No 107 beat her second top-10 opponent of the week, this time with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Pironkova, 26, will play fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber in Friday’s final after the German left-hander beat American Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2.

“It’s definitely a milestone. This is something I’ve been dreaming about for a long time now and something that I’ve been missing, to go to the final or even have a title,” she said.

Pironkova ranked as high as 31 in the world in 2010 following her Wimbledon semi-final appearance against Vera Zvonareva, and lost to Kvitova in the Wimbledon quarter-finals the following year.

The Bulgarian has won seven matches to get to the Sydney final, and reached the semis after beating third-seeded Sara Errani in straight sets.

“I’ve had some pains here and there. It’s quite normal considering I’ve been playing for seven consecutive days now,” she said.

Kvitova said Pironkova proved to be a difficult opponent.

“She moved well on the court, every ball was in the court,” the Czech world No 6 said.

In men’s singles, top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

In Hobart, top-seeded Sam Stosur of Australia beat Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski in the quarter-finals, 6-3, 6-2.

At the Heineken Open quarter-finals in Auckland, top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain beat countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

In a match that was nearly too close to call, American John Isner defeated Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.