BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) --- World No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia edged past Michael Berrer of Germany 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in the first round at China Open here on Tuesday.

It was the second encounter between these two players after Djokovic's win in the first round at Wimbledon in 2008. It has also been the first match for the Serbian since losing the US Open final to Andy Murray in September.

The match had been expected to be an easy one for Djokovic as he has won 31 titles in his career, while his opponent is only ranked world No. 123 now. The easy first set win seemed justifying Djokovic's advantage.

But the 25-year-old was having some trouble in the second set which went with serve until the 13th game. In the tiebreak, Berrer outclassed Djokovic 7-3 with his strong serves.

"In second set, my service game played quite comfortable, but, you know, he served extremely well. He pushed the second set into a tiebreak where he hasn't missed the first serve and came into the net a couple of times, played some really good points. He deserved to win the second set," said Djokovic, this year's Australian Open titleholder.

In the final set, the top seed immediately adjusted himself and stormed to a 3-0 lead. The German held his following two service games, but Djokovic broke Berrer in the eighth game to seal the deciding set at 6-2.

"I had tough time to really return his serve in the second, because he went for precision more than really speed of his first serves. I tried to stay closer to the line in the third, and it worked."

Djokovic is making his third appearance at China Open, where he won the title in 2009 and 2010.

He booked a second round clash with Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, who defeated Marinko Matosevic of Australia 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Monday. Enditem

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