The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Novak Djokovic and Marat Safin ease into second round

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Novak Djokovic and Marat Safin ease into second round

— PHOTO: AP

PAST THE FIRST HURDLE: Marat Safin, a former World No. 1, improved his win-loss record for the year to 4-7.

MONTE CARLO: Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic saw off experienced Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3, in his opening clay court match of the season, in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday.

And, Marat Safin’s latest bid to reignite his colourful, rollercoaster career enjoyed a boost with a 6-3, 6-2 first round victory over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.

Djokovic, the World No. 3 who also clinched the Indian Wells Masters this year, is close friends with Ljubicic, a fellow Monte Carlo resident. They embraced at the net and even engaged in a football-style bout of shirt-swapping after the match.

“Ivan is one of my best friends and we often practice together as well as living near to each other,” said Djokovic, who overcame dropping his serve in the first game of the tie. “Its never easy to play a friend. That’s probably why I made such a nervous start,” Djokovic said.

After the match, Djokovic was presented with an award for his performances on tour in 2007.

He also received a picture of himself made out of chocolate. “It’s nice to win the award. I feel like the champion already, having received so many prizes.”

Perfect match-up

Safin, a former World No. 1 and twice a Grand Slam title winner, has seen his world ranking slip to 93 in a year which had yielded just three wins on the tour before this week. But Malisse, who played just seven events in 2007, proved the perfect opponent for the Russian in a one-sided encounter.

The 28-year-old Safin, a semifinalist in 2004, broke in the sixth game of the first set to lead 4-2 and wrapped up the opener with his fifth ace. He was quickly ahead 3-0 in the second before Malisse rallied to pull a break back at 1-3.

Safin, with 20 winners confidently hit, raced through the last three games to take the match after 61 minutes to set up a second round encounter with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.

Also going through to the second round were Spanish 12th seed Tommy Robredo and Ivo Karlovic, the 15th seeded Croatian. Robredo, a quarterfinalist in 2006, saw off Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5 and now faces Sweden’s Robin Soderling. Karlovic clinched his first win in three attempts here when his French opponent Sebastian Grosjean was forced to retire with a leg injury in the final set.

Leander Paes and his Aussie partner Paul Hanley advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Argentine combine of David Nalbandian and Sebastian Prieto.

The results: Second round: Novak Djokovic bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3. First round: Tommy Robredo bt Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5; Ivo Karlovic bt Sebastien Grosjean 4-6, 6-4, 4-1 retired; Andreas Seppi bt Agustin Calleri 6-4, 6-3; Igor Andreev bt Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen bt Marc Gicquel 6-0, 6-4; Marat Safin bt Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-2; Simone Bolelli bt Juan-Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-2.

Janko Tipsarevic bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Jose Acasuso 7-6(4), 6-3; Nicolas Lapentti bt Potito Starace 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 6-4; Ivan Ljubicic bt Gustavo Kuerten 6-1, 6-2; Gael Monfils bt Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-4.

Doubles: Paul Hanley & Leander Paes bt David Nalbandian & Sebastian Prieto 6-4, 6-3. — Agencies

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