Paris, Oct 29 (IANS) World No.1 tennis player Novak Djokovic won his first match after becoming a father and Czech Tomas Berdych also triumphed but local favourite Gilles Simon was the first seed to crash out of Paris Masters here.
Djokovic beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 in the second round Tuesday after receiving a bye in the first round. The Serbian stayed on course to defend his championship here by taking a 5-1 lead in the first set and breaking his opponent in the opening game of the second, reports Xinhua.
No.5 seed Berdych followed in Djokovic's steps to advance to the Round of 16 after defeating wildcard entrant Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2.
In an earlier second round match, 15th seeded Simon was beaten in his first match by Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-3, 4-6. "It's a pity since physically I felt I was fit. I had energy and I could have played a lot," said the Frenchman.
"But I was not controlling the ball the way I wanted to. I'm not happy with the way I played, it was not flowing and I can't have a control over it though I've tried my best. "I'm extremely disappointed."
The other second round game saw 14th seed Keven Anderson of South Africa beat Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 7-6.
Spaniard Tommy Robredo, Belgian David Goffin and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay also won their first-round matches along with the France trio - Gael Monfils, Jeremy Chardy and Lucas Pouille.
In doubles, Spanish pair of David Marrero/Fernando Verdasco, Croatian Marcin Matkowski and Austrian Jurgen Melzer, Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Colombian Santiago Giraldo, Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden, as well as Eric Butorac of the United States and Raven Klaasen of South Africa advanced to the second round.