Djokovic, Murray Reach Paris Masters Third Round
Novak Djokovic dismissed Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-3 in the Paris Masters second round on Wednesday amid concerns about the shoulder injury which bothered him last weekend at the Swiss Indoors.
The top-ranked Djokovic complained of shoulder pains in his semifinal loss to Kei Nishikori in Basel. He said he was fine after practice on Tuesday.
If Djokovic had withdrawn from Paris, he risked losing a $1.6 million bonus paid to the elite players for appearing in all eight Masters events. Djokovic didn't play in Shanghai because of injury and would have lost the entire bonus if he hadn't started in Paris.
He looked good on Wednesday. Dodig dropped serve at 5-4 with a backhand error to lose the first set.
Djokovic hit a crosscourt backhand winner on the line for a 4-2 lead in the next set, clinching victory with an ace.
Djokovic will next play Serbian compatriot Viktor Troicki, who beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.
Andy Murray improved his record to 16-0 since the U.S. Open by beating Jeremy Chardy of France 6-2, 6-4.
The second-seeded Briton, who last lost to Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open semifinals but has won 26 of 27 matches since mid-August, jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. In the second set, Murray broke serve at 2-2 on a double-fault from Chardy and held on to win when a backhand volley from the Frenchman sailed wide.
"He is playing at a higher level," Chardy said. "He's playing the right shots. He's everywhere."
Murray played solid tennis, making only nine unforced errors compared to 35 for Chardy. He will next face Andy Roddick.
"He didn't make a single unforced error during the first four games, or at least I don't remember," Chardy said. "Tactically he made the right choices."
David Ferrer of Spain, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine also all won in straight sets to advance.
The fourth-seeded Ferrer beat Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 6-4. Mahut double-faulted to drop serve at 1-1 before sending a backhand return long to lose the first set. The Spaniard clinched victory on an unforced error to next meet Dolgopolov who downed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (6).
The 11th-seeded Tipsarevic defeated Alex Bogomolov Jr. of the United States 6-1, 6-0. Bogomolov took the opening game before losing 12 in a row. Tipsarevic will next play Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Source: Associated Press
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