Novak Djokovic’s bid to win a second Grand Slam of the year remains on course after an easy straight sets victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
It took him only one hour and twenty minutes to record a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win on Day Two of Wimbledon.
The Serb looked naturally impressive throughout the match against an opponent he has never lost to. He will be happy with the ease with which he dispatched the unseeded Frenchmen, whose only real weapon was a big serve.
In fact, if it wasn’t for some big hitting and numerous aces from the world number 54, Djokovic would have wrapped up the match earlier than he did. Chardy looked erratic and uncomposed throughout, failing to test his opponent or produce any danger.
The Centre Court crowd will have been disappointed with the one sidedness of the tie, but with the form the Djokovic has produced so far this year, losing only once in 2011, it was expected.
The first set was dominated by some strong serving, with Chardy hammering down seven aces. However Djokovic was equally dominant, losing only two points on his own service and winning every one of his second serves.
After threatening with a couple of break points in successive games, the Serb managed to finally make the key breakthrough in the ninth game. Despite Chardy being 40-30 ahead, Djokovic hit back with three straight points, winning the last one with a passing shot when presented with a relatively easy chance mid-court.
Djokovic made no mistake in securing the set with an ace, which was ironic considering it was Chardy who had been firing down the aces at that point.
This signalled the start of a dominant spell for the world number two. After the change of ends another break was achieved in easy fashion, with Chardy able to save one break point but going long with the other.
Djokovic preceded to rack up the games against his hapless opponent who was, at this stage, falling short of the level needed against the world’s in- form player of the moment.
Chardy did manage to stop the rut of seven straight games going to Djokovic, but the second seed eased to a 6-1 win. Chardy’s usually impressive serve was now appearing flawed after gifting the second set with a double fault.
More break points followed in the next set and subsequently games. Chardy’s often wayward ground strokes looked, at times, out of place in the grand surroundings of the famous Centre Court at SW19. He did, surprisingly, manage one game, but Djokovic looked confident and assured, and even he knew that the outcome was inevitable.
He closed the set out 6-1 with some fine serving coupled with some rash errors from his opponent, reminiscing the evening’s play. An ace finished off the set as it had done with the first.
Djokovic will now play Kevin Anderson or Illya Marchenko in the second round where he can be sure of a much stiffer test as he continues his quest for a first Wimbledon crown.