Novak Djokovic overcomes slow start to progress at Italian Open and set up clash with Grigor Dimitrov

Novak Djokovic had to battle through a sluggish opening set via a tie-break, but he then accelerated away from Tomas Martin Etcheverry to progress through to the third round at the Italian Open on Friday evening. The world No.

1 boasts a staggering career record in Rome having never failed to reach the quarter-finals in 16 appearances, and he was eventually pretty comfortable in sealing his place in the next round with a 7-6(5) 6-2 win at the ATP Masters 1000 event. Ad Etcheverry certainly put up a strong resistance in the first set while Djokovic helped to make it an unpredictable contest with a very surprising 21 unforced errors thrown into the mix with his normally impeccable groundstrokes.

Roland-GarrosWill Nadal be fit for French Open? Who else could miss Grand Slam?9 HOURS AGO The 35-year-old, who is targeting an outright record 23rd Grand Slam singles title at Roland-Garros later this month to pull away from his great rival Rafael Nadal, is continuing his preparations for Paris on the red dirt. Etcheverry quickly showed that this would be no procession for the defending champion as he immediately broke Djokovic in his first game.

The Argentine raced out of the blocks to set up two break points, and while the Serbian saved the first, a wayward backhand surrendered the second. Djokovic, wearing a black sleeve to support his right elbow, threatened to strike back straight away, but Etcheverry saved a break point with a confident serve-and-volley before clinching an important hold.

The top seed eventually found a route back into the set in game six when Etcheverry went for a forehand winner down the line but sent it just wide on break point, levelling things up at 3-3. Djokovic was given another scare as he found