Djokovic and Wozniacki ease through but Murray upset

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki eased through their openers in the California desert while fourth seed Andy Murray bit the dust for the second straight year.

Djokovic has not made the same perfect start to the season as he did in 2011, but defeated Andrey Golubev in his first match of the ATP/WTA Indian Wells Tournament for the second time in as many years on Saturday.

He easily beat the Kazakh qualifier 6-3, 6-2 in a 62-minute match – two minutes longer than he took last year, when he went on to capture his second Indian Wells title.

“We didn’t play a beautiful match. There were a lot of unforced errors but it was the opening match and I am still trying to adjust to this court and get used to the conditions. Hopefully, the next match will be better,” the Serb said.

Murray failed to advance past his opening Indian Wells match for the second year in a row, losing 6-4, 6-2 to unseeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Murray, who was ousted by American Donald Young last year, made 34 unforced errors compared to just 16 for world no.92 Garcia-Lopez in the one hour, 40 minute night match.

Djokovic, who came into Indian Wells last year riding a win streak that he eventually stretched to 41 matches, is now 11-1 this season. The lone blemish on his record is a defeat in the Dubai semi-finals last week to Murray.

Meanwhile, Wozniacki kick-started her bid to become just the second woman to win back-to-back titles at the tournament in style as she broke Ekaterina Makarova in every service game to post a 6-2, 6-0 win.

“I don’t like to be out there for too long if I don’t have to,” Wozniacki said.

“I love grinding it out, but if I have the opportunity to finish it off fast, I like that.”

Fourth-seeded Wozniacki advances to the third round, where she will face top Swede Sofia Arvidsson, who beat Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-3.

Two other women’s top seeds advanced as Samantha Stosur and Maria Sharapova cruised through their opening matches.

Stosur, who made the semi-finals in Indian Wells two years ago, breezed past American wildcard Irina Falconi 6-0, 6-3.

The reigning US Open champion put on an impressive serving display, blasting four aces and registering an 83 per cent success rate on first-serve points.

Sharapova dispatched Gisela Dulko in 66 minutes, winning 6-2, 6-0 in the night match. The 24-year-old Russian improved to 9-2 this season as she tries to regain the number one ranking in the world.