Ill Djokovic swept away by Santoro
PARIS, France — World number three Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Paris Masters after being trounced in his opening match by veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old Santoro, who beat world No. 5 Andy Roddick at the Lyon Grand Prix last week, again rose to the occasion in front of his home fans as he stormed to a 6-3 6-2 second-round victory against the Serb.
It was the first time the two players had met, with Djokovic making his first outing since losing to David Nalbandian in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters two weeks ago.
Djokovic, like the American Roddick, has already qualified for the season-ending Masters Cup and will now have extra time to prepare for the event in Shanghai starting next month.
The 20-year-old said he was struggling following dental surgery to remove two wisdom teeth.
I couldn’t give my 100 percent, not even 30 percent of my possibilities, Djokobvic said.
He deserved to win. I’m still on medications. I didn’t practise for a whole week, I only started practising two days ago. Physically, I’m not feeling at all good.
The result is a boost for rising British star Andy Murray, who earlier kept alive his hopes of an unexpected place at the Masters Cup by winning his first match in Paris and was expected to face Djokovic.
The 20-year-old, who has missed three months this season due to a wrist injury, beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to progress into the third round.
The 15th seed is seeking to overtake Tommy Haas, who holds the eighth and final place ahead of the showpiece event in Shanghai.
Murray, who trails the German by just three points, has not beaten Djokovic in three meetings so far but he has never played his unseeded next opponent Santoro.
Ninth seed Haas, who has struggled with illness and injury this year, will play Djokovic’s compatriot Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.
Murray, who won his second title this year at the St Petersburg Open last Sunday, made a confident start against Nieminen and showed little sign of the stiff back he suffered after a minor car crash on Monday.
He held his serve to love against a player who was beaten in the final of the Swiss Indoors event by world No. 1 Roger Federer last weekend, but then struggled for his best form as the first set went to a tiebreak.
The Scot was broken just one point after having a winner overturned following an on-court appeal, but he leveled immediately and then broke Nieminen again to win a third successive game before serving out for victory.
Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, one of six players to have already qualified for Shanghai, beat Argentina’s Juan Del Potro 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 in his opening match on Wednesday.
The Russian, fined for lack of effort after his defeat by Croatian qualifier Marian Cilic in St Petersburg, will next face either 13th seed Ivan Ljubicic or Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in round three.
World numbet two Rafael Nadal also reached the third round after thrashing Italy’s Filippo Volandri 6-3 6-1.
The Spaniard will next play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who won by the same scoreline against 16th seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
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