World no. 1 wins his 74th match of season in Paris Masters opener
Novak Djokovic won his 74th match of the season as the top seed posted an opening 7-5, 6-3 win over Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci at the ATP Paris Masters on Tuesday.
The world no. 1 continued where he left off two weeks ago with back-to-back titles in Beijing and Shanghai as he cruised into the Paris third round.
It was an 11th consecutive victory at the Bercy arena, where he has won the previous two editions, last losing at the venue in 2012.
“The last match I played indoors was last year in London, that’s why it’s always tricky to start out well,” said Djokovic.
“There were a few things I could have done better tonight. “But all in all, it was a very solid match. I played a player in form and who is playing well and gave me a hard time, which is always good to have a test like this.”
Djokovic now stands 74-5 in 2015 and has won his last 18 matches and 24 sets. He has played a run of 13 consecutive finals since he lost in January’s Doha quarter-finals at the start of the season, amassing nine titles and more than $15 million (13.7 million euros) in prize money this season.
Djokovic took almost an hour to get a grip on the second-round match with Bellucci, whom he has now beaten five times without a loss including three times this season.
The Serb broke in the 12th game of the opening set and took a 5-3 lead in the second before serving out the victory in just over 90 minutes.
French Open champion Stan Wawrinka faced Bernard Tomic for the first time since 2011, with the Swiss posting a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) win. While Spanish eighth seed David Ferrer defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-2.
