Paris: Novak Djokovic dismissed Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-3 in the Paris Masters second round on Wednesday showing no signs of the shoulder injury that bothered him last weekend at the Swiss Indoors.
The top-ranked Serb had complained of shoulder pains in his semifinal loss to Kei Nishikori in Basel. But he said he was fine after practice on Tuesday.
"I took the necessary measures in the last couple of days in order to recover (and) play in this tournament. I'm feeling good on the court and that's what matters."
If Djokovic hadn't played in Paris, he would have lost a $1.6 million bonus paid to the year-end No. 1 player for appearing in seven of the eight mandatory Masters events. The Serb didn't play in the Shanghai Masters last month because of injury.
He looked good on Wednesday. Dodig dropped serve at 5-4 with a backhand error to lose the first set. Djokovic hit a crosscourt backhand winner on the line for a 4-2 lead in the next set, clinching victory with an ace.
"It's obvious that I'm still not on top of my game." But I'm taking things quite slowly, step by step, knowing that the form will improve each day that I play."
Djokovic will next play compatriot Viktor Troicki, who beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.
Andy Murray and Roger Federer also moved into the third round.
Murray improved his record to 16-0 since the U.S. Open by beating Jeremy Chardy of France 6-2, 6-4, and Federer cruised past French wild card Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3.
"I thought it was a decent start," said Britain No. 1. "I mean, I didn't lose my serve. I don't think he had any break points, so that was good."
Murray, who last lost to Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open semifinals but has won 26 of 27 matches since mid-August, jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. In the second set, the second-seeded Briton broke serve at 2-2 on a double-fault from Chardy and held on to win when a backhand volley from the Frenchman sailed wide.
"He is playing at a higher level," Chardy said. "He's playing the right shots. He's everywhere."
Murray played solid tennis, making only nine unforced errors compared to 35 for Chardy. He will next face Andy Roddick.
While some players have complained about the slowness of the surface, Federer wasn't among them.
"In Paris, it's faster than (four) years ago when I lost against Nalbandian," Federer said. "It was almost like the French Open No. 2."
Mardy Fish is just one win away from securing his spot for the ATP World Tour Finals after routing Florian Mayer of Germany 6-1, 6-2.
The seventh-seeded American did not face a break point, and won seven straight games to take the first set and lead 2-0 in the second.
David Ferrer of Spain, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and John Isner of the United States also won in straight sets to advance.
The fourth-seeded Ferrer beat Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 6-4. Mahut double-faulted to drop serve at 1-1 before sending a backhand return long to lose the first set. The Spaniard clinched victory on an unforced error to next meet Dolgopolov who downed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (6).
The 11th-seeded Tipsarevic defeated Alex Bogomolov Jr. of the United States 6-1, 6-0. Bogomolov took the opening game before losing 12 in a row. Tipsarevic will next play Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Isner ousted Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-4, 6-4 and was praised by Murray for his big serve.
"I'd say Isner probably has got the best serve I've played against," Murray said. "For me, Isner has got the best serve in tennis, and then Karlovic."
Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon were the only seeded players to lose Wednesday. Andreas Seppi of Italy downed No. 9 Almagro 6-3, 7-5, No. 8 Monfils lost 6-3, 6-4 to Feliciano Lopez of Spain, and Juan Monaco of Argentina ousted No. 10 Simon 6-4, 6-0.
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