Novak Djokovic begins his bid to retain his world No. 1 ranking with an easy victory over Aslan Karatsev in Rome.
The Serbian top seed needs to reach the semi-finals in Rome to prevent Daniil Medvedev from taking over at the top of the ATP rankings, and Djokovic cruised into the third round with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph.
Top seed Djokovic, who lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcarez in the Madrid semi-finals last week, broke world No 35 Karatsev’s serve four times on his path to an easy victory on centre court.
In the following round, the 20-time Grand Slam winner will face either countryman Laslo Djere or former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic has never lost in the competition before the quarterfinals and is currently just three victories away from joining the 1,000-match-win club.
“He probably has the biggest calf we have in tennis. Very strong guy, just solid from the baseline,” Djokovic praised the 35th-ranked Karatsev
“With him, you never know. He can be really dangerous if he feels the ball because he stays so near to the line and puts pressure on his opponents.”
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During the match, Karatsev made 36 unforced errors, and Djokovic made sure to take advantage of them.
“He was missing a lot of points today though, gave me a couple of breaks in the first and second,” Djokovic added.
“I’ll gladly take this victory.” It’s a straight-sets win over a strong opponent, and I’m excited for the next challenge.”
Related: Novak Djokovic Turns Spotlight On Carlos Alcaraz Ahead Of French Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Grigor Dimitrov for the second time in seven days after the Bulgarian defeated American qualifier Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round on Tuesday.
Dimitrov won his 10th Masters 1000 match of the season, and he’ll be looking for his second triumph over Tsitsipas in their sixth meeting.
In the women’s competition, Madrid finalist Jessica Pegula got off to a strong start, defeating world No. 25 Liudmila Samsonova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to progress to the second round.
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