Top seeds Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic cruised into the third round of the Shanghai Masters as defending champion Andy Murray progressed without even picking up a racquet.
As the tournament kicked into life with the entry of the big guns, Sam Querrey sent Kei Nishikori tumbling 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, days after his opponent became the first Japanese player to win the Japan Open.
Swiss world No1 Federer, battling to cling on to his top ranking, beat Taiwanese qualifier Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 7-5 to set up a clash with fellow countryman Stanislas Wawrinka.
Federer’s build-up to the Shanghai tournament was clouded by a death threat from a blogger in China, but the 17-time Grand Slam champion said he quickly put it out of his mind once he was on court.
“There was maybe one quick thought,” he said. “But once the match got under way, I never thought about it again. I thought it was a good match for me. Not having been broken is a good thing early on in a tournament. You hope it sets a trend for more to come.”
Djokovic, who will regain the No1 ranking if he wins the title and Federer loses before the quarter-finals, dismissed Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-2 in just 54 minutes.
“Very pleased with my serving in Beijing and obviously the first match,” said the second seed, who lost just five of his service points. “So that’s something that I’ve been working on, obviously.”
He will next play Feliciano Lopez, while US Open champion Andy Murray did not even have to take to the court as Florian Mayer withdrew with a rib injury, giving the Scot a walkover and next tie with Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had wins, but Milos Raonic, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon all crashed out.
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