World number one, Novak Djokovic won his opening match of the Adria Tour, an elite men’s tennis returned for the first time since being suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Serb, 33, cruised past compatriot Viktor Troicki 4-1 4-1 in Belgrade in just 34 minutes.
Djokovic set up the tournament to help players get back to match fitness after several weeks of no competition.
The cross-Balkan event has a reduced match format and is open to spectators.
Djokovic, a 17-time Grand Slam singles champion, will next face Serbian Filip Krajinovic, 28, who lost to German world number seven, Alexander Zverev, 23, 0-4 4-3 4-3 in the four-man group’s other game.
Earlier, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, 29, battled to a 4-1 3-4 4-1 victory over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, 29.
In their group’s second game, Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, 28, retired through injury at 2-0 down in the opening set against world number three Dominic Thiem, 26, of Austria. Serbian world number 145 Nikola Milojevic will replace Dzumhur in the evening session.
The regular ATP Tour has been suspended till July 31.
Matches are best of three sets, with a player needing to win four games instead of six in each set, and a tie-break coming at 3-3.
There is no ‘advantage’ played following deuce, instead, the game is decided on a ‘sudden-death’ point.
The next round takes place in Zadar, Croatia from June 20 and finishes in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July. The round scheduled to take place in Montenegro has been cancelled.
Each event takes place across one weekend. Players face each other in a round-robin format in two groups of four, each will play in afternoon and evening sessions on Saturday, followed by a Sunday morning session.
The final will take place between the two group winners on a Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, the rain has washed out the opening day of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Nice, France, which is set to feature several top 10 players including Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini and David Goffin,
Matches scheduled for yesterday will be played tomorrow, while matches set for today remain unchanged.
The tournament was created by Serena Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, at his namesake tennis academy in Southern France.
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