Novak Djokovic passed a tough first test at the ATP Masters/WTA Paribas Open on Sunday to maintain his perfect record for the season and reach the third round of the year’s first Masters tournament.
The world No. 1 defeated Fabio Fognini 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, the struggles he encountered against the 36th-ranked Italian echoing world No. 3 Andy Murray’s battle to a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over unheralded Russian Evgeny Donskoy.
Djokovic went up an early break only for Fognini to get back on serve with a break of his own in the seventh game.
Fognini saved a matchpoint with a service winner in the 10th game of the second set and broke Djokovic in the 11th.
He duly served out the set, and had Djokovic under pressure in the opening game of the third, when the Serbian fended off one break point then battled through four game points and an irksome time violation before finally holding serve.
From there Fognini began to fade. Djokovic broke him to lead 3-1 and broke him again to secure the win.
The results :
Men : Second round: Marinko Matosevic bt Juan Monaco 7-5, 6-0; Marin Cilic bt Albert Ramos 7-6(7), 6-2; Milos Raonic w/o Michael Llodra; Mardy Fish bt Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Andy Murray bt Evgeny Donskoy 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Lu Yen-Hsun bt Martin Klizan 7-6(5), 7-6(5); Bjorn Phau bt Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Carlos Berlocq bt Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3.
Juan Martin del Potro bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4; Nicolas Almagro bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-1; Tommy Haas bt Pablo Andujar 6-3, 7-6(0); Kei Nishikori bt Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-2; Novak Djokovic bt Fabio Fognini 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; Sam Querrey bt Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4; Grigor Dimitrov bt Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-4; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt James Blake 7-6(6), 6-4.
Women : Third round: Klara Zakopalova bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 7-5; Maria Kirilenko bt Mallory Burdette 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Sara Errani bt Johanna Larsson 6-3, 6-1; Maria Sharapova bt Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-3; Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino bt Roberta Vinci 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Sorana Cirstea 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4; Petra Kvitova bt Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 7-6(5); Marion Bartoli bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3.
