Djokovic off to winning start in Basel

Novak Djokovic made a winning debut at the Swiss Indoors last night as the Serbian claimed a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Andreas Beck in the tennis stronghold of Roger Federer.

Djokovic off to winning start in Basel

Novak Djokovic made a winning debut at the Swiss Indoors last night as the Serbian claimed a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Andreas Beck in the tennis stronghold of Roger Federer.

Djokovic took just under 90 minutes to move into the second round at the St Jakobshalle, where top seed Federer got his start in the game a decade and a half ago as a ball boy at the indoor event.

Swiss hopes fared well with Marco Chiudinelli rallying from a final-set deficit to overhaul German eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-5.

The Swiss player, ranked 73 in the world, has seen a rise in his fortunes in recent months, reaching the third round of the US Open and also reaching the quarter-finals in Bangkok.

His Basel win in two-and-a-quarter hours was welcome as it ended a run of two successive first round exits in Shanghai and Vienna.

"It's great to have some success at home in Basel," said Chiudinelli. "It was a tough match. But I'm very fit right now and it hasn't been that way for me during the last two years here.

"He (Kohlschreiber) really put me to the wall but I believed in myself and came through with the win.

"To win at home is perfect, I'm elated."

The Swiss pounded down 11 aces to 15 for his German opponent, with Chiudinelli saving ten of the dozen break points he faced.

The 28-year-old Chiudinelli, who is the third ranked Swiss singles player behind Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, is making his fifth appearance in Basel, and has now earned his second victory win for a 2-4 record after winning his first match here in five years.

He has qualified seven times in 2009 on the ATP, including four in a row this fall (US Open, Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai).

Russian Evgeny Korolev advanced over Italy's Simone Bolelli 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, while Victor Troicki ended hope of Benjamin Becker 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).

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