Italian Open: Djokovic starts strong in Rome

Novak Djokovic made a winning return to Tour on Friday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he overcame an opening-round test from French lucky loser Corentin Moutet to reach the third round in Rome.

Competing in his first match since the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo last month, the Serbian overcame a slow start to earn a 6-3, 6-1 victory in Rome. Djokovic recovered from a 1-3 deficit in the first set and dealt with Moutet’s court craft effectively in the second set to advance after one hour and 26 minutes.

“Match play is different to practise sets,” Djokovic said. “I played a lefty and I have not practised with a lefty in a while, so it took me a little time to adjust to the different rotations of the ball. The first four games were quite bad from me. A bad start. I lost both my services games.

“But then I played well. I only lost one game from 1-3 down. Corentin is a very talented player. He has great hands and is very unpredictable. You don’t know what comes up next, so I had to stay focused, which I did and it is a good opening match.”

Novak Djokovic now has 23 wins in ATP-1000 events since turning 35, he eclipses John Isner (22) for the outright second most wins in such tournaments since the introduction of the format in 1990; only Federer with 51 has more.

The 36-year-old will try to clinch his 1100th win when he takes on Alejandro Tabilo. The Chilean beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 7-6(4).