DUBAI — Playing his first match since winning the Australian Open, top-seeded Novak Djokovic beat Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-1, 6-2 Monday in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
"I may have looked calm from the outside, but there is a lot of intensity inside," Djokovic said after advancing in 65 minutes. "There are emotions, moments of confidence and doubts.
Djokovic's victory brought him one match away from his 700th career singles match win.
"Every milestone is very special, of course," Djokovic said. "I wish that I make the 700th win in this tournament, obviously."
Djokovic, a previous four-time champion in Dubai, took three weeks off after beating Andy Murray in the Australian Open final for his 11th Grand Slam title. He never faced a break point against the 39th-ranked Robredo.
"Obviously playing first match in three weeks, different conditions, I didn't know how I'm going to start, whether or not I'm going to execute the game plan as I prepared," Djokovic said. But everything went well."
Djokovic's next opponent will be Tunisian wild-card entry Malek Jaziri, who won his first match of the year, beating Russian qualifier Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-1.
Sixth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain won his 400th career match, beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
The 34-year-old Lopez, the oldest player in the draw, is playing in Dubai for the 10th time. He reached the final in 2004 and 2008.
"I'm very happy, first of all, because I think is a good number, 400 wins," Lopez said. "It's been long time since I start playing tennis, and I'm very happy I have been able to achieve this number. It means that I was also very lucky in terms of I didn't have injuries during my career."
Also Monday, 66th-ranked Chung Hyeon of South Korea beat 39th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-4.
Marseille winner Nick Kyrgios was due in Dubai later after winning the first title of his career in France over Marin Cilic.
The 20-year-old Australian starts his campaign Tuesday night, facing Slovak Martin Klizan, winner of the Rotterdam event eight days ago.
Bouchard beats Sevastova
In Doha, Eugenie Bouchard took another step in her comeback on the WTA Tour by battling to a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova in the first round of the Qatar Open Sunday.
The 22-year-old Canadian is making a comeback this year after suffering a concussion at the 2015 US Open when she slipped and fell in the locker room and subsequently pulled out of the tournament.
The Canadian, who accepted a wild card for the tournament, finally won her match after two hours and 28 minutes. She saved nine break points.
Karolina Pliskova, seeded 10th, lost rather tamely to Russia's Margarita Gasparyan 6-1, 6-1 after struggling to get her first serves in during the whole match.
Germany's Andrea Petkovic continued her domination of Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, beating her 6-3, 6-2 in the last match of the day.
Croatia's Donna Vekic brushed aside Omani wildcard Fatma Al-Nabhani, winning 6-0, 6-0 in 50 minutes. — Agencies
