Top seed Novak Djokovic opened his title defence at the BNP Paribas Open in convincing fashion on Saturday evening with a 6-1, 6-3 second round win over Marcos Baghdatis, moving to a 37-6 record in his 10th appearance at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.
The world no.1 improved to a perfect 8-0 career H2H with the Cypriot in just 59 minutes.
Novak had 80% realization of his break point opportunities (4/5) and was 4/4 on net approaches. He broke twice in each set and didn’t face a single break point during the clash.
“Great performance against a quality opponent, against somebody who was former Top 10 player and knows how to play on a big stage,” Djokovic said. “No complaints. Everything was working well from the beginning to the end.”
Match statistics: aces (6-3), double faults (1-3), winners (24-9), unforced errors (10-15), total points won (57-33).
Novak will next face ATP no.68, Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, who beat no.25 seed Julien Benneteau in straight sets earlier today. It will be their first career meeting.
Djokovic is bidding to become the 12th player in the Open Era to win 50 ATP World Tour titles. He is currently tied with his coach Boris Becker on 49.
Photo: AP
