London: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer won their opening matches at the Western & Southern Open in straight sets.
World number two Djokovic defeated Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 on a court baked in sunshine and 86-degree heat.
The Serbian said afterwards: "Sometimes it`s really hard to try to stay fit for every single tournament and try to perform your best.
"In the last three, four weeks, I have changed three different cities, places, surfaces, conditions. I`m still trying to figure out where I am."
Top seed Federer recorded a 6-3 6-2 win over Alex Bogomolov Junior to set up a last-16 clash against Bernard Tomic.
The top-ranked Swiss must make the final in Cincinnati to ensure Djokovic does not regain the world number one ranking.
Defending champion Andy Murray, the world number four, defeated Sam Querrey 6-2 6-4.
The Olympic gold medallist had to withdraw from the Rogers Cup because of a sore knee, which he blamed on the transition from grass to hard courts, but allayed fitness fears after his defeat of the American.
The Scot said: "The knee felt fine. I moved well today [Wednesday].
"It still was giving me a little bit of trouble in practice for a couple of days before the tournament, but it felt fine, much better on the court today [Wednesday].
"I moved well, so I`m hoping it won`t be a problem."
Murray served out the match with comfort and goes on to meet Jeremy Chardy of France next.
"I did tend to play a lot of the points from the baseline, he`s a big hitter and he`s in good form," Murray told Sky Sports after the match. "It was a tough first match but I managed to get him to do most of the moving and got a lot of returns in as well - that was the key.
"I felt much better, I practiced the last four or five days. I had a few problems but nothing serious, I`ve spoken to the physio and doctor and they said there was nothing to worry about.
"It`s just changing surfaces - after the Olympics I had just about one day to get used to the change but as I play more matches it will get better."
Murray admits such a big change in surfaces could erase some of the momentum that he`d usually expect after winning such a big tournament as the Olympics.
"It`s hard to explain, normally after a big win you do feel a bit more comfortable when you next play, but they`re such different conditions here.
"After three weeks playing on grass it`s a big change to these courts - and it`s much warmer conditions here but you start to get used to it and hopefully the Olympic win can give me more confidence going forward."
Fourth seed David Ferrer was a shock departure, losing 6-4 6-1 to Stanislas Wawrinka, while seventh seed Janko Tipsarevic and Juan Monaco were also third round casualties.
Serb Tipsarevic retired due to heat exhaustion while trailing Spain`s Pablo Andujar 6-4 4-1, while Argentina`s Monaco was defeated by Czech Radek Stepanek 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.
Sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro ended German veteran Tommy Haas` tournament with a 7-5 6-2 win, while Canada`s Milos Raonic was tested before surpassing Cyprus` Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-4.
Kei Nishikori, the 14th seed from Japan, dismissed American wildcard James Blake 2-6 6-4 6-4, and French lucky loser Jeremy Chardy set up a last-16 clash against Murray with a 6-4 6-3 win over Uzbekistan`s Denis Istomin.
Elsewhere, 10th seed Mardy Fish advanced to the third round by defeating Argentina`s Carlos Berlocq 6-3 6-1, Serbian Victor Troicki progressed with a 6-2 6-0 win over Australian Lleyton Hewitt, while Russia`s Nikolay Davydenko beat Germany`s Florian Meyer 6-3 6-3.
In the women`s event, Agnieszka Radwanska eased into the third round with a 6-4 6-3 win over Sofia Arvidsson.
The top-seeded Pole defeated Arvidsson in one hour and 23 minutes in a match blighted by poor serving - both players finished the match with a first-serve percentage under 60.
Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova came from a set down against Germany`s Mona Barthel to win 3-6 6-2 7-5 and advance to the third round in two hours and eight minutes.
Sara Errani, the seventh seed from Italy, saw off Slovakia`s Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-4, while Russia`s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Germany`s Julia Goerges 6-3 6-0.
The string of retirements in the women`s draw continued with 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova pulling out while trailing 7-6 (7-1) 4-1 against Czech qualifier Andrea Hlavackova.
Yaroslava Shvedova conceded her match against Urszula Radwanska despite taking the first set, although the Kazakh was trailing 4-1 in the second.
Elsewhere, Sloane Stephens won the battle of the wildcards with a 6-2 6-1 defeat of Camila Giorgi, Venus Williams overcame Chanelle Scheepers 2-6 6-3 6-2, Ekaterina Makarova beat Anna Tatishvili 6-1 6-2, Caroline Wozniacki downed Sesil Karatantcheva 6-1 6-0 and Shuai Peng won 6-3 6-4 against Roberta Vinci.
BDST: 1920 HRS, August 17, 2012
Edited by
Chanchal Ghosh, Newsroom Editor
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