Novak Djokovic marked his return to action with a routine 6-4 6-2 triumph over Cedric-Marcel Stebe at the ATP Dubai Championship.
Fish cruises into second round, dropping just two games to Beck
Novak Djokovic marked his return to action with a routine 6-4 6-2 triumph over Cedric-Marcel Stebe at the ATP Dubai Championship.
The world number one, playing for the first time since his Australian Open triumph in Melbourne, needed 89 minutes to see off the the 72nd-ranked German in straight sets.
The Serbian broke Stebe's serve in the very first game, though he did have to save two break points in the fourth and was then pushed to deuce when serving for a 1-0 lead.
The second set was much more straightforward, two breaks of serve helping the top seed extend his perfect record in 2012 to 8-0.
The news was not so good for another Djokovic, however, as Novak's brother Marko lost his first-round match to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3 6-2.
The wild card entry was playing only his third match on the ATP Tour having spent much of last year sidelined after wrist surgery.
Pressure
"He has to face the pressure of having the Djokovic surname," Novak said after seeing his sibling beaten.
"He's trying to fight with his mind more than with his game. When he is able to focus on that and not on his doubts he can become a world class player."
Meanwhile, Mardy Fish had kicked off the tournament with a 6-1 6-1 victory over Andreas Beck of Germany.
The American has not had a great start to the new year, losing in the second round of the Australian Open before going down to 388th-ranked Albano Olivetti in Marseille last week.
The eighth seed broke his opponent twice early on to surge into a 4-0 lead, setting the tone for the match.
Fish broke a further three times in the second to round out victory in under an hour.
"Obviously it's nice to get through quickly early in the tournaments, but it gets tough from here on out, for sure," Fish said.
"I've never played him before. I assume he's played better matches, for sure. But these courts suit me very well."
