Bloemfontein – Novak Djokovic made it safely into the third round of the Indian Wells ATP Masters but said his straight-sets win over Victor Hanescu left room for improvement.
The world number two and second seed, a two-time winner in the California desert, saved all five break points he faced on the way to a 7-6, 6-2 victory.
And good news for South Africa’s Kevin Anderson – Anderson’s nemesis Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic has been knocked out of Indian Wells.
Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain sent the fourth-seeded Berdych crashing out 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Bautista, ranked 53rd in the world, used a punishing ground game to notch his third career win over a top-10 player.
Yesterday, Anderson beat Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in two sets to advance to the next round.
Results on Sunday from the ATP Masters and WTA BNP Paribas Open –
Men 2nd round –
Richard Gasquet bt Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-0, 2-0 ret
Fernando Verdasco bt Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 7-5
Lu Yen-Hsun bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-2
John Isner bt Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
Grigor Dimitrov bt Robin Haase 6-4, 6-3
Ernests Gulbis bt Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-3
Jarkko Nieminen bt Florian Mayer 6-2, 1-0 ret
Roberto Bautista Agut bt Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
Feliciano Lopez bt James Ward 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Mikhail Kukushkin bt Vasek Pospisil 6-0, 6-2
Dominic Thiem bt Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/5), 6-2
Julien Benneteau bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-4
Tommy Robredo bt Marinko Matosevic 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 6-4
Marin Cilic bt Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-2
Alejandro Gonzalez bt Ivan Dodig 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5)
Novak Djokovic bt Victor Hanescu 7-6 (7/1), 6-2
Women 3rd round –
Simona Halep bt Lucie Safarova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
Eugenie Bouchard bt Sara Errani 6-3, 6-3
Casey Dellacqua bt Roberta Vinci 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Lauren Davis bt Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-2
Caroline Wozniacki bt Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 6-1
Alize Cornet bt Carla Suarez 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-3
Agnieszka Radwanska bt Annika Beck 6-0, 6-0
