TENNIS – Novak Djokovic made a good return with a 6-3 7-5 win over Radek Stepanek in one hour and 37 minutes in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia at the Foro Italico in Rome. Diego Sampaolo
Interviews, results, order of play, draws of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome
Djokovic showed that he is fully recovered from the wrist injury which hampered him in the semifinal against Roger Federer and sidelined him from Madrid.
At 3-3 in the first set Djokovic broke serve in the seventh game. This break proved to be decisive as Djokovic closed out the first set with 6-3 in 43 minutes.
In the second set he Serbian star, twice winner at the Foro Italico, got a break at 1-1 but Stepanek broke back at 4-3. Djokovic broke again and got the chance to serve for the match but he dropped serve allowing Stepanek to draw level to 5-5.
Djokovic got the decisive break in the 11th game to clinch his 10th win in 11 head-to-head matches against the Czech player.
Djokovic played a solid match in which he made just nine unforced errors to Stepanek’s 27.
“I have not played an official match for three weeks. It was nice to play in front of the Rome crowd. It’s an important period in my life as I will become father of my first child”, said Djokovic.
Australian Open and and Monte-Carlo champion Stanislas Wawrinka swept aside World Number 98 Pere Riba from Spain with 6-0 6-3 in just 50 minutes dominating the match from the start. He won 83 percent of his first serve points and broke serve four times. He hit 30 winners to just 12 unforced errors
Wawrinka, who was runner-up to Djokovic in Rome in 2008, dominated the first set winning 25 points to 9. There was more battle in the second set but Wawrinka was in full control of the match. Riba held serve on his first serve but Stan broke serve to take a 3-2 lead. Riba earned a break point chance in the final game of the second set but Wawrinka held serve until the end to close out the match for 6-3.
“Winning the Australian Open and my first Master 1000 in Monte-Carlo has been fantastic and has helped me. It’s a great start, although the conditions were not easy. I am happy playing on every surface and I think I can play my best game on every surface but I am always happy to come back on clay”, said Wawrinka
Tommy Haas overcame Andreas Seppi in three sets with 6-1 4-6 6-3 in one hour and 48 minutes.
South African Kevin Anderson did not face a break point and won 78 percent of his first service points in his 7-5 7-6 (7-4) win over Vasek Pospisil. In the second round Anderson will face Jo Wilfried Tsonga who beat Alexander Dolgopolov on Monday evening.
Andrei Golubev converted six of his eight break points in his 6-4 7-5 win over Fernando Verdasco.
Dimitry Tursunov upset Roberto Bautista Agut 6-0 7-6 After Tursunov dominated the first set with a bagel, the second set went on serve until the tie-break which was won easily by the Russian player.
