The top seeds were all winners Wednesday at the Paris Masters 1000. Top seed Novak Djokovic showed no signs of any shoulder injury Wednesday in a comprehensive 64, 63 win over Ivan Dodig.
“The back wasn’t in any kind of injury state, it was only the shoulder that was a little bit troubling me in Basel, and I took the necessary measures in the last couple of days to recover in order to play in this tournament,” Djokovic said. “I have been back home in Monaco, and then I have been trying to recover there with a team of people. I took a couple of days off and I came here yesterday, because I wanted to take time in recovery rather than just going out on the court to prepare for the conditions.”
Djokovic also brushed aside speculation that he played Paris only to collect a hefty bonus of almost $2 million.
“There are a lot of stories around,” he said. ” It’s normal when you are one of the top players that you get some attention, and things that you do on and off the court are being watched. I don’t want to say if it’s fair or not fair. Everybody has the right to –and freedom to – say what they want and everybody has a right to their own opinion. But I came here because I’m professional tennis player and I want to compete. That’s about all it is.”
Djokovic moves on to play countryman Viktor Troicki tomorrow.
Roger Federer and Andy Murray were also easy winners over Frenchmen. Federer blew past Adrian Mannarino while Murray rolled over Jeremy Chardy.
“I felt rested coming into this tournament, even though it’s been busy the last few days,” Federer said. “That’s a good feeling to have, because now I’ve got to back it up day after day if I want to do well here. I was happy with my performance today. It was great.”
Next for Federer is the dangerous Frenchman Richard Gasquet who had been sidelined for seven weeks with a bad elbow. “I’m going to prepare as if I had the best Richard Gasquet ever against me,” said Federer. “I will need to play a good match, otherwise it is not going to be enough tomorrow.”
Federer had won eight of 10 meetings with Richard with both Gasquet wins coming on clay including their most recent clash at Rome this year.
Seeking a fourth straight title, the red-hot Murray meets Andy Roddick Thursday. “After taking a break, things feel a little bit different,” Murray said. “You’re not quite in the rhythm you were a few weeks ago. Hopefully I can build on today’s win. Maybe if I get through a couple of rounds, I’ll feel that momentum.”
Murray holds a 7-3 head-to-head lead and in their only meeting in the past two years he destroyed Roddick 63, 61 at Queen’s Club in June.
Gael Monfils was the big casualty on the day losing to Feliciano Lopez 63, 64.
Tomas Berdych, Mardy Fish and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can all wrap up the final three berths at the ATP London Finals with wins on Thursday. With losses today by Monfils, Nicolas Almagro and Gilles Simon, Janko Tipsarevic is the only other player in the hunt for London.
CENTRAL COURT start 10:30 am
[13] A Roddick (USA) vs [2] A Murray (GBR)
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [15] V Troicki (SRB)
[Q] A Seppi (ITA) vs [6] J Tsonga (FRA)
Not Before 4:00 PM
[7] M Fish (USA) vs J Monaco (ARG)
Not Before 7:30 PM
[16] R Gasquet (FRA) vs [3] R Federer (SUI)
Not Before 8:30 PM
J Isner (USA) vs F Lopez (ESP)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
[5] T Berdych (CZE) vs [11] J Tipsarevic (SRB)
[4] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [14] A Dolgopolov (UKR)
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