Djokovic: It was no stroll

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:46

The world number four was never in trouble on the way to a 6-3 6-1 6-3 victory over the 30-year-old Croatian in one hour 37 minutes.

“I would love every match to be a walk in the park,” Djokovic said, before adding: “It’s not easy.

“Maybe it seems that results-wise and game-wise but if you play a big server who been the third player in the world, won a Davis Cup, had a lot of titles under his belt and so much experience, you’ve got to be cautious.”

Number seven seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed just 78 minutes to dispose of US wild card Chase Buchanan, the Frenchman emerging a 6-0 6-2 6-1 winner.

Tenth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain defeated Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-5 6-4 7-5, while number 11 Fernando Gonzalez won the all-Chilean contest with Nicolas Massu 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Czech Tomas Berdych was a comfortable 7-5 6-4 6-4 victor over American Wayne Odesnik but there was no joy for number 29 seed Igor Andreev.

The Russian was knocked out by Odesnik’s fellow Floridian Jesse Whitten, a qualifier who won convincingly, 6-4 6-0 6-2.

Andy Murray’s quarter of the draw was taking shape as he played Ernests Gulbis in the last match of the night and it will have given the second-seeded Scot plenty of incentive to progress and during the first set two potentially major obstacles in his path were removed with opening-round defeats for Ivo Karlovic and Stan Wawrinka.

Potential third-round opponent Karlovic, the 27th seed, was dumped out in straight sets, 6-4 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-5) by Spain’s Ivan Navarro, while number 19 Stan Wawrinka, a likely round-four rival, let slip a 2-0 lead over Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti to lose 4-6 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

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