World number one Novak Djokovic moved smoothly into the third round of the Rome Masters with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Spain’s Albert Montanes yesterday.

It was just what the Serbian needed after his early exit in Madrid last week and, although Montanes briefly led by a break early on, there were no real alarms for the top seed.

Djokovic said: “This win means a lot to me for several reasons. I didn’t have a great week in Madrid. I’ve been here for six days trying to work very hard and prepare myself for this tournament.”

Other results: Federer bt Starace 6-1 6-2; Berdych bt Istomin 6-4 6-0; Del Portro bt Kuznetsov 6-3 6-2.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.