Djokovic rolls in Paris Masters opener
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E-mail Xinhua, October 29, 2014
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Champion Djokovic breezes through at Paris Masters. |
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic won his first match since his son was born, before Czech No. 1 Tomas Berdych scared but won on Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Masters, where local favorite Gilles Simon became the first seed crashing out.
Djokovic, whose wife Jelena gave birth to a baby boy last Tuesday, beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 in the second round as the 27-year-old top seed received a bye in the first round.
The Serbian stayed on course to defend his championship here by taking a 5-1 lead in the first set and breaking his opponent in the opening game of the second.
No. 5 seed Berdych followed Djokovic's step to advance to the round of last 16 after defeating wildcarder Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2.
In an earlier second round matchup in the afternoon, however, Simon, the 15th seeded Frenchman, was beaten in his first match at this year's Bercy event by Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
"It's a pity since physically I felt I was fit. I had energy and I could have played a lot," commented the 19th-rated after the defeat. "But I was not controlling the ball the way I wanted to."
"I'm not happy with the way I played, it was not flowing, and I can't have a control over it though I've tried my best," he added. "I'm extremely disappointed."
The only other second round game played on Tuesday saw 14th seed Keven Anderson of South Africa ousted Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 7-6. Meanwhile, Spaniard Tommy Robredo, Belgian David Goffin and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay won their first-round matches, along with a trio of France, Gael Monfils, Jeremy Chardy and Lucas Pouille.
In the doubles play, David Marrero/Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Croatian Marcin Matkowski and Austrian Jurgen Melzer, the pair of Pablo Cuevas of Uruaguay and Colombian Santiago Giraldo, Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden, as well as Eric Butorac of the United States and Raven Klaasen of South Africa advanced to the second round.
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