NOVAK Djokovic moved into the third round of the Paris Masters with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ivan Dodig, picking up a £1 million bonus in the process.
The world number one just needed to turn up to pick up his bonus for competing in all but one of this year’s Masters Series events, and the Serb shrugged off fitness worries that saw him miss Shanghai and lose to Kei Nishikori in Basel, to trounce the unseeded Croat without breaking a sweat. Djokovic unleashed the key shots at important moments, playing one of the shots of the week – through the legs from the baseline – after a Dodig lob seemed to catch him out at one of the few half-chances the world number 39 had to break his opponent.
“I wasn’t really confident I would compete here,” Djokovic – who has suffered from shoulder and back pains recently – said afterwards. “I wasn’t able to be at my best today but the pain was okay and I will be able to compete.
“Probably because of the experiences I have had, the approach of the world of support towards me has changed and I have to manage this.”
The £1M bonus came about from ATP rule that states the world number one is entitled to a $2M bonus for competing in all nine Masters tournaments, dropping to $1.6M if he skips one and zero if he misses two or more.
Djokovic has won five so far this season, with Andy Murray winning the last two and Rafael Nadal one.
Next up for Djokovic is compatriot Viktor Troicki, who beat Sergiy Trakhovksy of the Ukraine 6-4, 6-4 earlier on.
World number four and third seed Roger Federer beat unseeded French wildcard Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3 as players with similar styles but contrasting levels of ability entertained the crowd on centre-court.
Both men are known for exceptional technique and aesthetically-pleasing shot-making, but Federer is arguably the greatest player of all-time while Mannarino, who reached the quarter-finals of Queen’s earlier this year is world number 85, albeit a top-50 player in recent months and a possible top-30 on talent.
For all of Mannarino’s deft touches, Federer’s serve was never tested and he made light work of the 23-year-old, ending his tournament in under an hour.
“There was a slight change in surface from Basel and maybe the ball gets slowed down and has an impact on the serve,” the Swiss said afterwards. “It’s not much of a difference but it feels a bit slower and maybe you have to be a touch more patient.
“I had to wait for a little bit (to win a title) this year, and I had a bit of a title drought from January. I didn’t play bad tennis and suffered a few disappointing losses. It was tough not to go to Shanghai, where I had done a lot of work for the Asian market, for the fans there. But it was the right decision for the family and the body.”
Second seed Andy Murray was barely threatened as he beat Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-4 to progress to a tough third-round clash with Andy Roddick.
Big-serving American John Isner won his match against Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-4. Isner will play the winner of the early-evening match between eighth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils and Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
There was also a win for Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-3 7-6 (6) against Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber. The Ukrainian faces fourth seed David Ferrer in the third round after he beat France’s Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-4.
Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic – who has to reach the final in Paris to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London – dominated Alex Bogomolov Jr with a 6-1, 6-0 win, setting up a third-round match with Tomas Berdych, who himself needs one more win to qualify for London.
Later yesterday, seventh-seeded American Mardy Fish faces Germany’s Florian Mayer and ninth seed Nicolas Almagro will be tested by Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi. (Eurosport)