Djkovic Made To Work For Win In Rome

Defending champion Novak Djokovic was made to work for his second-round victory over Nicolas Almagro at the Rome Masters.

The world No 1 missed last week's Madrid Masters, but he resumed his French Open preparations in Italy, where he dropped the second set before closing out a 6-1 6-7 6-3 victory.

Showing no signs of rust, Djokovic forced Almagro to the back of the court with precise ground strokes and the Spaniard soon surrendered a first break with a wayward backhand.

Almagro was being attacked from all angles and Djokovic drew another break with an inch-perfect sliced backhand. He then sealed the opening set in fitting fashion, firing an accurate ace past a powerless opponent.

The second set was briefly interrupted when Almagro complained about the safety of the surface, with an official sent to flatten the clay, and he would gradually gain a foothold in the match.

Djokovic was briefly threatened at 3-2, with his opponent bringing up a first break point, but the Serb defended his serve with a rasping forehand, punching the air in delight.

With both men refusing to yield their serve, they advanced to a tie-break and a fired-up Almagro forced the match into a third set. But the former French Open quarter-finalist could not maintain his bid for a shock victory, conceding a break at 4-3 after a sapping rally.

Djokovic, at last, could finish off his determined foe and he served out for his 18th victory in a row.

Speaking afterwards, the top seed said: "At the end of the day it's a win after three weeks with no official match.In important moments today I did feel a little uncomfortable, but maybe that's due to a lack of competitive play.

"I needed to take some time off because I have played a lot of matches. It has been one of the best starts to the season of my life, but it took a lot out of me, mostly mentally."

Seventh seed David Ferrer also progressed with a 6-4 7-5 win over Richard Gasquet, while Stan Wawrinka battled back from a set down to defeat Juan Monaco 4-6 6-3 6-2.

In the first round, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga claimed a 7-6 6-0 win over Sam Querrey, but ninth seed Marin Cilic crashed out after a 6-4 6-3 loss to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.