July 24, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 20, 1429

TORONTO, July 23: World No 3 Novak Djokovic opened the defence of his Toronto Masters title in impressive style with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Canadian Frank Dancevic on Tuesday.

The Australian Open champion was joined in the third round by sixth seeded American Andy Roddick, who launched his hardcourt campaign earlier in the day with a battling 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

World No 1 Roger Federer and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal open their accounts on Wednesday after receiving first round byes in the event.

Djokovic took a little time to shake off the rust but soon got into his stride and broke Dancevic to take the opening set.

The 21-year-old Serb recorded an early break in the second to push 4-2 ahead but then wobbled as Dancevic, urged on by a raucous home crowd, staged a late rally by breaking back and holding serve.

But Djokovic responded with another decisive break to seal the match in 77 minutes.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round: 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Frank Dancevic (Canada) 6-4, 6-4; 6-Andy Roddick (US) bt Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.

First round: Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 6-3, 6-4; Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Russia) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-2, 7-6 (9-7); 13-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2; Igor Andreev (Russia) bt Gael Monfils (France) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3); Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt Arnaud Clement (France) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Robin Soederling (Sweden) bt Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 7-5, 6-1; Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; 16-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt

Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-3, 6-1; Jesse Levine (US) bt Peter Polansky (Canada) 6-2, 6-4; Tommy Haas (Germany) bt Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-3, 6-2; Gilles Simon (France) bt Donald Young (US) 6-1, 6-3.

SERENA PULLS OUT

LOS ANGELES: Russia's Anna Chakvetadze eased into the third round of the Los Angeles Classic with a 6-1, 6-1 thrashing of Marta Domachowska on Tuesday as Serena Williams became the latest injury casualty of the tournament.

The third seed eased past her Polish opponent with the minimum of fuss, never giving Domachowska an opportunity to settle with an assured and energetic display.

While Chakvetadze was enjoying an easy workout, Williams succumbed to the knee injury that forced her out of the semi-finals at Stanford last week and withdrew from the tournament a day before she was due to open her campaign.

Results:

Second round: 3-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-1 6-1; Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt 6-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-4.

First round: Vania King (US) bt Angela Haynes (US) 6-3, 6-3; Stephanie Dubois (Canada) bt Ashley Harkleroad (US) 6-2, 6-3; Yuan Meng (China) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; 11-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) bt Ayumi Morita (Japan) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-4, 6-4; Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) bt Jamea Jackson (US) 6-2, 6-2; 15-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-4, 6-3; 10-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 6-1, 6-0; Regina Kulikova (Russia) bt Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; 9-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Alina Jidkova (Russia) 6-0, 6-4; Peng Shuai (China) bt Julie Ditty (US) 6-4, 6-2.—Reuters