Djokovic strolls past Montanes in Monte Carlo

MONTE CARLO: Novak Djokovic stormed into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters as the defending champion won his 11th straight match of the season 6-1, 6-0 over Albert Montanes on Tuesday.
The second seed is bidding for a trophy at his fifth straight Masters 1000 after ending last season as winner at Shanghai and Paris before sweeping Indian Wells and Miami last month.
He won the last 11 games in a row, finishing in 45 minutes and improving to 17-2 on the season.
The Serb ranked second in the world behind top seed and eight-time Monte Carlo champion Rafael Nadal ran his record over Spain’s Montanes to a comfortable 6-0.
“For my first clay match since Roland Garros last June it was great,” said the winner. “I could not find any flaws in my game.
“My opponent was making a lot of unforced errors, I tried not to give him any rhythm. I’ve had some short matches before, it’s nice to get your work done so quickly.
“But then again, longer rallies would have given more of a test so early in the clay season.” Djokovic revealed that he has been carrying a slight wrist problem for a week but said he would not speak of it, saying only that it would soon be cleared up.
Spanish sixth seed David Ferrer, the 2011 finalist, started with a win over Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-0.
Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga joined Djokovic and Ferrer in the third round with a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Tsonga needed just under two hours to go through in front of an enthusiastic crowd, although he took a medical timeout on the way to finally securing victory on his third match point.
“I just had a bad period. I felt my legs were very heavy. I didn’t feel well, so I called the doctor to explain what was happening. He gave me homeopathic treatment.” It was a largely positive day for the French on the Cote d’Azur.
Michael Llodra upset slumping Polish 16th seed Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-2.
Julian Benneteau advanced over Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 but Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili handed a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Gilles Simon.
Bulgarian 12th seed Grigor Dimitrov reached the second round over Marcelo Granollers 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 while Italian Andreas Seppi defeated 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
Nadal, Roger Federer and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka were to beginning in the second round on Wednesday.

Pliskova cruises

In Kuala Lumpur, Czech tennis star Karolina Pliskova easily beat Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic Tuesday in the first round of the BMW Malaysian Open.
The third seed, who won the competition last year as her first and only WTA title, thrashed her opponent 6-2, 6-2 in the game that was postponed from Monday due to rain.
Pliskova, 22, ranks 75th in the world, while Krunic ranks 158th.
Seventh seed Donna Vekic of Croatia, who at 17 ranks 95 in the world, had a poor match start against the much lower ranked Chan Yung-Jan but eventually defeated the Taiwanese 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
It was a bad day for Japan’s eighth seeded Ayumi Morita. The 113th-ranked, who used to be among the top 50 players, lost 4-6, 2-6 to Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine.
Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan — who is now world No. 126 down from a career high of 23 in 2013 — scrapped through, triumphing over Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Pliskova’s twin sister, Kristyna Pliskova, who ranks 139, beat higher-ranked Timea Babos of Hungary 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4.
First-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who ranks 10th, will play Wednesday in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, which often experiences heavy afternoon downpours that have marred play.
The tournament was dealt a setback when crowd-puller and former world No.1 Venus Williams of the US pulled out, reportedly due to a throat infection.