Djokovic hits the ground running with quick win

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  • Easy: Djokovic won in 88 minutes.

    After suffering a tough defeat to Andy Murray in the final last year, world No2 Novak Djokovic made an explosive return to Wimbledon Centre Court, beating Andrey Golubev 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 in 88 minutes.

    Djokovic sped through the first 11 games, going up 6-0, 5-0 in less than 40 minutes before Golubev finally got on the board.

    But that brief moment of resolve from the world No55 didn’t stop the top-seeded Djokovic from serving out the second set, which saw him win six out of six points at the net.

    The Kazakh put up a fight in the third set but Djokovic got the break he needed in the ninth game and handed Golubev his 10th consecutive tour-level defeat on grass and set up a second round clash with Czech veteran Radek Stepanek.

    “It’s a great start. Coming into Wimbledon with no official matches, it always gives you an extra reason to get that commitment and focus from the start and try to play as best as you can,” said the Serb, a champion here in 2011.

    Italian Fabio Fognini pulled off a heroic comeback against world No148 Alex Kuznetsov to post just his fifth career victory at Wimbledon with a 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 9-7 win over the American.

    Ernests Gulbis, seeded at Wimbledon for the first time, moved into the second round with a tight 7‑6 (7), 7‑5, 7‑6 (10) victory over Estonian Jurgen Zopp. The Latvian No12 seed next plays Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who was a surprise winner over Roger Federer in the second round last year.

    Australian Bernard Tomic and Czech No6 seed Tomas Berdych both won yesterday to set up a highly-anticipated second round against each other. Tomic is a former quarter-finalist while Berdych was runner-up here in 2010.

    Former semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga might have been the unluckiest player of the day as rain suspended play while he was about to serve for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set against Austrian lefty Jurgen Melzer.

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