Djokovic breezes through

Novak Djokovic
12 April 2012

Novak Djokovic looked impressive as he continued his untroubled progress through to the third round of the Australian Open.

The world number one and defending champion backed up his first-round defeat of Paolo Lorenzi with a 6-3 6-2 6-1 win over Colombian Santiago Giraldo.

Djokovic dropped his serve early on but that proved the only blip as he cruised through to a clash with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

The Serbian did not play a warm-up event but has looked solid so far in Melbourne, and admitted afterwards he was delighted to have kept plenty back for the challenges which lie ahead.

He said: "Especially in the opening rounds you are trying to get the rhythm to play well in every match. You can't underestimate any opponent and Santiago is a tricky player. It was really important to win the first set."

Also winning through on Thursday was sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a 7-5 6-4 6-4 victor over Brazil's Ricardo Mello. The Frenchman was a runner-up here in 2008 and semi-finalist two years ago, and he admitted afterwards: "The conditions here are good for me. And it's pretty warm. The surface also, it's not really quick so maybe it's good for my game."

Ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic overcame losing the first set to see off Australian wild card James Duckworth 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5) 6-4, while fifth seed David Ferrer was pushed even further before eventually dismissing Ryan Sweeting 6-7 (4/7) 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Milos Raonic beat Philipp Petzschner 6-4 5-7 6-2 7-5, Mahut beat Tatsuma Ito 1-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 6-2, while Michael Llodra will be Andy Murray's third-round opponent following his five-set win over Alex Bogomolov.

Lleyton Hewitt won the battle of the old stagers after Andy Roddick had to retire with a leg injury when two-sets-to-one down.

Gael Monfils, the 14th seed, also progressed late on after beating Thomaz Bellucci 2-6 6-0 6-4 6-2, while Julien Benneteau won the all-French battle against 12th seed Gilles Simon 7-5 7-6 (10/8) 1-6 3-6 6-2 in over four hours.

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