Australian Open champion and top seed Novak Djokovic launched his BNP Paribas Open title defence in ruthless style on Saturday, crushing Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1 6-3 in the second round.
Playing near-flawless tennis from the baseline, the Serb broke his opponent twice in each set to coast to victory in just under an hour on the showpiece stadium court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Djokovic, seeking a fourth title at Indian Wells, breezed through the opening set in just 25 minutes before sealing the win when Baghdatis hit a backhand long on the second match point.
“Great performance against a quality opponent, against somebody who was a former top 10 player, who knows how to play on the big stage, no complaints,” Djokovic said after the match. “Everything was working really well from beginning to end.”
Earlier Fourth seed Andy Murray erased memories of early losses at the venue with a 6-1 6-3 demolition of Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Japanese trailblazer Kei Nishikori recovered from an erratic start to beat American Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-4.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Murray outlined the reasons for teaming up with Jonas Bjorkman, although it was still early days in their player-coach relationship.
“I was looking for someone else,” said Murray, who already works with Amelie Mauresmo for some of the year. “I spoke to him, I really enjoyed talking to him. I talked to him about the game on every level, tactics, mental side a little bit technical talking about tactics, spoke about some of the other player and things I needed to improve.
“We decided we would give it a try for a week or so because it doesn’t matter how much you enjoy speaking to someone, it is not until you get on the court with someone you see how good it is going to be or whether they can help you, so hopefully we can do that in the next few weeks.”
In other matches eighth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer battled pastCroatia’s Ivan Dodig 4-6 6-1 7-6 , while 10th-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic, back on the circuit after being troubled by a shoulder injury, was upset 6-4 6-4 by Argentine Juan Monaco.
REUTERS
