Djokovic thumps to enter Australian Open 3rd round

Melbourne, Jan 22 (IANS) Defending champion Novak Djokovic on Wednesday entered the third round of the Australian Open after cruising past Japanese wildcard Tatsuma Ito.

Djokovic needed just 95 minutes to advance as he defeated Ito 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena. He will next face another Japanese player Yoshihito Nishioka.

The Serbian won his 901st tour-level win to reach the Australian Open third round for the 13th time in the past 14 years. His 900th victory came two days ago, against Jan-Lennard Struff.

The world No.2 raced to a 5-0 lead against Ito, who had ousted lucky loser Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India in the first round.

After losing the first set in just 22 minutes, the 146th-ranked Japanese showed in the second set he could give the ball a fair thump, and went game-for-game with Djokovic.

However, the Serbian turned out to be too good for Ito as Djokovic improved his Australian Open win-loss record to a sparkling 70-8 and kept his campaign for a record-extending the eighth title firmly on track.