Tennis- Djokovic beats Chardy in Open 13

At 18:15 GMT, Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Djokovic beats Chardy in Open 13

Djokovic also overcame Chardy in the Australian Open Novak Djokovic has beaten Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in round one of the Open 13 in Marseille. The Serb, ranked third in the world, took the first set on a tie-break thanks to a strong serving display. He then broke the 55th-ranked Chardy in the third game of the second set and then held on to serve out the match. This was the 21-year-old's first match since retiring against Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where he also beat Chardy. "I took some rest after the Australian Open. I needed to have a fresh mind," Djokovic said. The top seed served 13 aces and only had to defend one break point against the 22-year-old Chardy, who reached the final of this month's South African Open. He will now face Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic in round two. Djorkovic was joined in the next round by fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 winner over Andrey Golubev. The Frenchman, who was a tournament winner in South Africa earlier this month, will meet Italy's Simone Bolelli in the second round.