DUBAI — Novak Djokovic trounced fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-4 in the Dubai Championships first round Tuesday as the world No. 1 extended his unbeaten run to 14 matches. Djokovic, whose winning streak stretches back to October and includes claiming a third straight Australian Open title, was broken once in the second set but was otherwise untroubled in his first match since Davis Cup duty in early February. "I had three or four weeks of no tennis, so I was extremely focused to start well and I did really well in the first set," Djokovic, 25, said in a courtside interview. "I was right behind his serve and I'm very satisfied with my performance and hopefully I can continue." Also into the second round is former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who saved three match points on his way to beating Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Fourth seed Del Potro recovered from 4-1 down in the deciding set, the Argentine's superior ground strokes ultimately wearing down his Cypriot opponent as dusk fell. Earlier, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko routed world No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic 6-0, 7-5 in sweltering conditions. The first two games took 31 minutes to complete, with Tipsarevic going through three rackets in the opening three games. The Serb, wearing his trademark dark glasses, came out fighting in the second set and broke twice for a 4-1 lead only for 31-year-old Davydenko to win six of the last seven games. Third seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic strolled past wild card Rajeev Ram 6-1, 6-3. On Monday, Somdev Devvarman of India beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Querrey breezes through Sam Querrey battered fellow American Michael Russell in the first round of the Delray Beach International Monday, blasting seven aces to take the first set 6-2 before his opponent retired with a leg injury at 2-2 in the second. Querrey, who lost in the second round in Memphis last week and has never got beyond the semis at the Delray, took just 44 minutes to wrap up his match against Russell. Xavier Malisse, a Delray winner in 2005 and 2007, cruised past Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-3, while the upset of the day belonged to Ivan Dodig, who beat fifth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-3. In the day's other match, Evgeny Donskoy beat Steve Darcis 7-6 6-3. The 109th-ranked Ernests Gulbis of Latvia is the 2010 Delray Beach champion. This year, Gulbis has had to come through qualifying to reach the main draw this year. Gulbis defeated Denys Molchanov of the Ukraine 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4 to qualify Monday. Nadal to miss events Rafael Nadal will miss next month's ATP World Tour Masters Series events in Miami and Indian Wells, the Madrid sports daily Marca reported Tuesday. The 11-time Grand Slam champion has only recently returned to the court after a seven-month injury lay-off with a persistent knee problem but has decided to only play on clay courts as he prepares his bid for an eighth French Open title in May. Nadal, who begins his campaign at the Mexico Open in Acapulco later Tuesday against Argentine Diego Schwartzman, won the Brazil Open in just his second tournament since his return a fortnight ago. But he admitted on arriving in Mexico that his knee was still was not 100 percent. — Agencies
