By Mark Lamport-Stokes
INDIAN WELLS, California, March 12 (Reuters) – World
number one Novak Djokovic blunted the power serving of South
African Kevin Anderson to reach the fourth round of the Indian
Wells ATP tournament with a 6-2 6-3 victory on Monday.
The top-seeded Serb, who beat Spaniard Rafa Nadal in last
year’s final at Indian Wells, broke his towering opponent twice
in a marathon opening set and once in the second to triumph in
one hour 37 minutes.
“It was a very close match,” Djokovic said in a courtside
interview after breaking Anderson in the sixth and eight games
to win the opening set in just under an hour.
“The scoreline does not reflect how close it was, especially
the style of the match. In most of our matches … the first set
goes on for half an hour or more. I was fortunate to hold that
break and I returned well today.”
Djokovic, who lost to Anderson when they first met at the
2008 Masters Series event in Miami but won their next three
encounters without losing a set, had five aces on Monday while
the six-foot eight-inch Anderson delivered seven but the South
African won only 41 percent of his second serves.
“This is one of my most successful tournaments,” added the
Serb, who was champion here in 2008 and again last year. “I love
coming back to the desert.”
Djokovic will next meet Pablo Andujar who advanced with a
7-6 6-4 win against fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos.
In other matches, big-serving John Isner powered past
Argentina’s Juan Monaco 7-5 7-5 and France’s Gilles Simon beat
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-4.
Seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych was scheduled to play
American former world number one Andy Roddick later on Monday.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
