13 May 2009 Djokovic Down To Business Early; Simon Cruises

ATP World Tour No. 4 Novak Djokovic got down to business early at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open with a strong opening-round performance to defeat Spaniard Oscar Hernandez 6-3, 6-3 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournament on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Djokovic surrendered his No. 3 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking – a position he had held since 13 August, 2007 - to Andy Murray on Monday and signalled his intention to regain his Top 3 standing quickly with a dominant display on Manolo Santana court.
"I think that I have played fantastic tennis and have had huge success on both hard courts and clay courts so I will be very patient and I am sure that if I continue this way I will get my spot back," said Djokovic. "Andy absolutely deserves that place because he´s been winning a lot of matches lately and playing good tennis but it is still a long way for him and for me."
The Serbian raced out to a 3-0 lead with a break of serve early in the first set, before later closing out the one-set lead 6-3. Another early break in the second set established his control in the match and a second break in the ninth game secured victory for Djokovic after one hour and 38 minutes. The Monte-Carlo resident enjoyed his best result in Madrid in 2007, when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Nalbandian).
"Maybe results wise it looked easy but it wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. It was difficult because there is a difference in altitude and the balls are flying quite a lot and you don’t get a lot of control. I was trying to produce a lot of spin and get in to the rhythm and I’ve done a pretty good job today."
Djokovic has been in a rich vein of form in recent weeks. The Belgrade native has reached the final in his past four tournaments, beginning with a runner-up finish to Andy Murray at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami. He has been the closest challenger to Rafael Nadal in the European clay-court swing, finishing runner-up to the top-ranked Spaniard at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte-Carlo and Rome, before clinching his hometown title at the inaugural Serbia Open (d. Kubot) last week.

For a spot in the quarter-finals, Djokovic will face Italian Andreas Seppi – against whom he has a 5-0 career lead, including victory in the Belgrade semi-finals last week. The No. 36-ranked Seppi withstood 10 aces from Sam Querrey to break the American four times in a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory, improving to an 11-13 match record on the season.
Fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the third round when last week’s Munich champion Tomas Berdych retired due to a left-leg injury, with del Potro leading 6-2, 4-1.
The 20-year-old del Potro, who was a quarter-finalist (l. to Federer) last year in Madrid - when it was still staged on indoor hard court - won his 22nd match of the season (22-7 record). The Tandil native has had mixed results on clay in 2009, losing in the opening round at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (l. to Ljubicic) before reaching the quarter-finals at the same-level event in Rome (l. to Djokovic). The right-hander opened the 2009 ATP World Tour season by winning his fifth title at Auckland (d. Querrey) before reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals (l. to Federer).
Del Potro next will meet 11th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who converted three of 11 break points as he knocked out Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 7-5 in 97 minutes. Del Potro defeated Wawrinka two weeks ago in Rome, but the Swiss leads the head-to-head series 2-1.
"I think its going to be tougher than it was in Rome," said del Potro. "There he got off to a slow start and I think tomorrow we are going to have a very close game and it will be a long one, I’m pretty sure. When you play against the best players you need to have a strong serve which is one of the weapons that I have and that helps me to take advantage of the opportunities that come up in the game."
Former World No. 9 Wawrinka, who is currently No. 18 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, won his 16th match of the season – reflecting a consistent year for the right-hander, highlighted by defeating World No. 2 Roger Federer en route to reaching the semi-finals at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (l. to Djokovic).
Gilles Simon, the No. 8 seed from France, made smooth progress through to the third round with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over qualifier Fabio Fognini of Italy. The No. 72-ranked Fognini recovered from an initial break-of-serve deficit in the first set, but his respite was short-lived as Simon broke once more in the eighth game – aided by three double faults from Fognini – before closing out the one-set lead 6-3. Breaks were exchanged at the beginning of the second set before World No. 7 Simon upped his level to break twice more and win the last five games to wrap up victory in 71 minutes.
The 24-year-old Simon reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final last October on his debut in Madrid, when he finished runner-up to Andy Murray. The Nice native, who will next face Ivan Ljubicic for a place in the quarter-finals, has compiled an 18-12 match record on the season – highlighted by semi-final showings in Marseille (l. to Llodra) and Dubai (l. to Djokovic) and a first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal). Last week he was a quarter-finalist on clay in Estoril (l. to eventual champion Montanes).