Novak Djokovic has advanced to the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters after recording a comfortable 6-0 6-1 win over Dusan Lajovic to whet appetites for a potential showdown against Rafael Nadal.
The victory will not rank among his greatest, but it was no doubt a reaffirming afternoon for former world No.1 Djokovic, who was smarting from three successive losses and seems to have found some of his lethal form once more.
Despite some near-misses and the occasional cooked shot, Djokovic looked a changed man to the player that succumbed to uncharacteristic early defeats in Miami and Indian Wells earlier this year.
Over the course of the near one-hour match, Djokovic kept compatriot Lajovic guessing with his disguised forehand drop-shots and powerful down-the-line backhands that brought rapturous applause from the crowd at the show court.
The dominance was clear from the start, and it seemed easy – a trait that has been lacking from Djokovic’s recent efforts. In Miami, he almost seemed unfit, fading badly in the third set that led to him endure a string of unforced errors.
But playing in familiar surroundings, Djokovic broke five times and sent Lajovic scrambling to cover the wide dispersal of his powerful groundstrokes from his own baseline.
Lajovic, in contrast, could not get a look in. He managed to win only a third of his first and second-serve points as he was simply outdone by his Djokovic, who put his past troubles behind him to record his first victory since January.
Djokovic’s next game, where he will face 39th-ranked Borna Coric will likely be less straightforward, but the last time they met on clay was at the Madrid Masters in 2016, a tie that the 30-year-old Serb won convincingly in two sets.
Kei Nishikori was meanwhile forced to dig deep to take a 4-6 6-2 6-1 victory over 12th seed Tomas Berdych.
Last year’s runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat American Jared Donaldson 6-3 6-3 in a match marred by a heated argument between the 21-year-old Donaldson and the chair umpire over what he thought was an erroneous call.
Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain beat Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk 6-4 6-3.
Milos Raonic avoided a boilover after dropping the first set to local hope and world No.365 Lucas Catarina, fighting back to win 3-6 6-2 6-3.
