By Alberto Amalfi | Tuesday, April 14, 2015

 

Novak Djokovic defeated qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-1, 6-4, to cruise into the Monte-Carlo Masters third round.

Photo credit: Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Facebook

Part-time Monte-Carlo resident Novak Djokovic views the season's first clay-court Masters event as a hometown tournament.

Playing his first clay-court match of the season, the world No. 1 was in no mood to play hospitable host.

Video: Nadal Says He's Motivated, But Not Favorite in Monte Carlo

Djokovic showed Albert Ramos-Vinolas the door, 6-1, 6-4, in 87 minutes to advance to the third round for the eighth straight time.

It was the 13th consecutive victory for the top seed, who terrorized the Spanish qualifier's serve. Djokovic won nearly half of the points played on his opponent's serve.

“I felt very good,” Djokovic said in his post-match press conference. “I thought, considering the amount of months that I haven’t played on the clay courts, to play against somebody that is a clay-court specialist, and win in two sets, I thought it was a very good performance. I can just take positives from today."

Converting his fourth break point for a 2-0 lead, Djokovic backed up the break at love. A fine volley lob sent Ramos-Vinolas on retreat and Djokovic snapped off a smash breaking again for 4-0.

Pushing the left-hander wide, Djokovic broke again for a 4-3 second-set lead and never looked back. He finished with more than three times as many winners (24 to 7) as Ramos-Vinolas.

About the only stat the Serbian may not be satisfied with was his 4 of 13 conversions on break point chances.

Djokovic and sometime practice partner Milos Raonic trained in Monte Carlo during the off-season preparing for 2015. The Australian Open champion says this homecoming brings a comfort level.

"Of course, the fact that I’m playing at home, in a way, because I spend a lot of time in Monte Carlo, I practice in this club over the course of 12 months, hard courts, clay courts, I know people who are doing the courts, friends with them – it really is a different and very special feeling," Djokovic told the media in Monte Carlo. "So I’m trying to enjoy it and see how far I can go.”

Next up for Djokovic is either Bernard Tomic or Andreas Haider-Maurer.

It was a pretty good day for Frenchmen as No. 10 seed Gilles Simon, 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 14th-seeded Gael Monfils and Jeremy Chardy all advanced. French wild card Lucas Pouille beat Dominic Thiem, 6-4, 6-4, to set up a second-round match with eight-time champion Rafael Nadal tomorrow.

No. 5 seed David Ferrer held a 6-2, 2-0 lead when Victor Estrella Burgos retired.

Ninth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov battled past Houston semifinalist Fernando Verdasco, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Dimitrov will face Fabio Fognini next.