Reigning BNP Paribas Masters champion Novak Djokovic put on a solid performance on Wednesday and recorded his 60th match win of the season in a 6-3, 6-4 second round victory over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
The Serbian and world no.1 won 91 per cent of his first-serve points to advance in one hour and 20 minutes. He broke once in each set and saved the only break point he faced during the fourth career encounter with Muller (4-0 H2H).
“It was great to start off the way I did today. Not an easy opponent because he serves and volleys, and I found the conditions quite quick,” said Djokovic. “I think I managed to find the right rhythm, right pace from the very beginning… capitalised on the opportunities when they were presented. I was quite pleased with my serve. I think I got a lot of free points there. It was quite a good performance.”
Match statistics: aces (3-4), double faults (4-4), winners (20-17), unforced errors (15-32), total points won (67-51).
Novak meets no.14 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the third round on Thursday.
The top seed owns a 5-1 career record against the 25-year-old Bulgarian. Dimitrov was leading 6-3 when Marcos Baghdatis retired.
Photo: Getty Images
