Djokovic races past Garin in Astana opener

Novak Djokovic opened his quest for back to back titles with a confident 6-1, 6-1 win over Christian Garin of Chile on Tuesday in the first round of the Astana Open at the Daulet National Tennis Centre in Nur-Sultan on Wednesday afternoon.

Fourth seed Djokovic, who won his first hard court title of 2022 last week in Tel Aviv, didn’t face a single break point as he set up a clash with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

“From the start to the end, a great performance,” Djokovic said. “Playing in a new tournament, different conditions, the first match is never easy. Obviously you are looking to see how you are going to adapt, but I did it perfectly, really, played as well as I can. I just made him work and used every opportunity that was presented to me.”

Djokovic said winning Tel Aviv had given him a big boost.

“I was lucky that throughout my career I was actually pretty quick in adjusting to different conditions and surfaces,” said Djokovic. “But I think that experience helps of knowing what to do. But winning a tournament, losing in a final or semis, makes a difference mentally. Coming into this tournament I feel confident, I feel excited, I feel motivated, so I think that helps as well to adjust quickly.”

Nur-Sultan ATP 500, other first-round results (Daulet National Tennis Center, USD 1.900.000, most recent results first):

• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Marc-Andrea Huesler: 6-0, 6-2
• Marin Čilić (9) beat Oscar Otte: 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (2) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 6-3, 6-1
• Alexander Bublik beat Tallon Griekspoor: 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
• David Goffin (LL) beat Carlos Alcaraz (1): 7-5, 6-3
• Luca Nardi (Q) beat Alexander Shevchenko (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Mikhail Kukushkin (WC): 6-3, 6-4
• Pavel Kotov (LL) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 6-4, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov beat Maxime Cressy: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Laslo Djere (Q): 6-4, 6-3
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (8): 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Hubert Hurkacz (7) beat Francisco Cerundolo: 6-2, 7-6 (2)
• Zhizhen Zhang (Q) beat Aslan Karatsev: 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Botic van de Zandschulp beat Beibit Zhukayev (WC): 6-1, 6-1
• Adrian Mannarino beat Stan Wawrinka (WC): 1-6, 6-2, 6-3

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