* Djokovic sweeps past qualifier Golubev 6-3 6-2
* Murray stunned 6-4 6-2 by Spaniard Garcia-Lopez
(Updates with Murray upset)
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
INDIAN WELLS, California, March 10 (Reuters) – World
number one Novak Djokovic eased into the third round of the
Indian Wells ATP tournament on Saturday while fourth-seeded Andy
Murray made a premature exit.
Djokovic, champion here in 2008 and last year, handed out a
6-3 6-2 thrashing to Kazakhstan qualifier Andrey Golubev,
breaking his opponent’s serve twice in each set to triumph in
one hour 20 minutes.
“It was a good start,” the top-seeded Serb said in a
courtside interview after sealing the win with a powerful first
serve that forced a wild backhand error by his 145th-ranked
opponent.
“We didn’t play a beautiful match and there were a lot of
unforced errors but look, it’s the opening match of the
tournament for me and I am still getting used to the conditions
and adjusting to the court.
“Hopefully the next match will be better,” added the Serb,
who won his fifth grand slam crown at the Australian Open in
January.
Djokovic, who beat Spaniard Rafa Nadal in last year’s final,
will next face South African Kevin Anderson, who benefited from
a walkover when Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew due to
an unspecified illness.
Continued…
