Djokovic strolls into second round of Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan.17 (ANI): Top seed Serbian Novak Djokovic entered the second round of the Australian Open with a straightforward 6-2 6-0 6-0 win over Italian world No.109 Paolo Lorenzi at the Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

After an incredible 2011 in which he had a 70-6 win-loss record, the Serb saw off some early fight from Lorenzi to put on a clinical display to start the new year.

The audacious Lorenzi made Djokovic work his way through the first set but he cruised home in the final two sets to win in one hour and 32 minutes, the Herald Sun reports.

In his first match for 2012, the world No.1 had to fend off Lorenzi in the opening set and was broken in the third game to go 2-1 down.

He didn't drop another game, winning 17 in a row to suggest he's still in the form which swept him to the top in 2011

He immediately broke back but the Italian refused to be intimidated by the man who won three of the four majors last year.

Lorenzi, who only made the main draw as a substitute following the withdrawal of injured Indian Somdev Devvarman, continued to go for his winners, some of which came off spectacularly.

Djokovic's game, however, was more steady than spectacular in the opening set but, once he found his comfort zone, took control.

He sent Lorenzi scampering around the court with his penetrating ground strokes from both sides and the Italian quickly caved in under Djokovic's relentless pressure and temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.

Fifth seed David Ferrer also had little trouble in his opening match, dispensing with Portugal's world No.70 Rui Machado 6-1 6-4 6-2. (ANI)