In his first tournament match since winning the US Open, Novak Djokovic cruised past Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the third round at the Paris Masters.

Djokovic, a six-time tournament champion, dropped just six points on first serve and saved the only break point he faced.

“I think I played well in the important points,” Djokovic said to the ATP. “Hit the extra shot and made him uncomfortable. I think I changed the position of the court and did not give him the same look. I think that allowed me to break serve in the first set. I was serving up and down. Some parts of the match really good, others losing the rhythm. But I think it is normal to be rusty a little bit after not playing an official match for so long. But a straight-sets win against a guy who has been improving so much.”

The Serb has now won his last 14 matches since losing in the Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic and Alcaraz are fighting for the No. 1 ranking, and with the Spaniard out, this only adds to Djokovic’s lead.

Djokovic will return tomorrow to take on Tallon Griekspoor who he leads 2-0.

Daniil Medvedev fell in a tight one with Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-7(4-7), 7-6(7-2). Dimitrov missed match points in the second.

“I was very resilient throughout the whole match,” Dimitrov said. “I was looking for the match, I always wanted to create the game, I was trying to create my plays and go after the shots.

“I think last week, I think it also gave me a lot of insight of the things I can do better and things I wanted to do better. Yeah, a difficult one today, but I’m very happy that, you know, I managed to also hold on to my emotions and keep going after my game.”

Medvedev just beat Dimitrov last week in Vienna, but the Bulgarian came ahead this time. In all three sets, the leader lost his serve as Dimitrov led 4-2 in the third before Medvedev leveled.

“He played better,” Medvedev said. “Could I do better? I’m not even sure. Bad mistake at 2-0, but that’s mostly it. Other than that he made some winners and played good points. Served well.

“So in the tiebreak, not much to say. I’m happy the way I fought. I managed to raise my level during the match, so in a way, for sure, very disappointed with the match and the result, but don’t see too much I could do better and I think I played a good match. So probably should try to stay positive.”

In the Turin race, No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas bested Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-6(7-4). The 6th-seeded Holger Rune defeated Austria’s Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-2. The 10th-seeded Alexander Zverev won a tight one over France’s Ugo Humbert in a match that went the distance 6-4, 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-5). Zverev served for the match in the second, and then came from a break down in the third to win in 3h30m. Also, No. 11 Hubert Hurkacz ousted Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-3, 6-2 to keep on Rune’s tail.

Also, Francisco Cerundolo surprised the 8th-seeded Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4. No. 13 seed Alex De Minaur got through Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Botic Van De Zandschulp of Netherlands upended 12th-seeded Tommy Paul 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and the day ended at 2:37am with Jannik Sinner topping Mackenzie McDonald 6-7(6-8), 7-5, 6-1.

Tomorrow will see Jannik Sinner dueling De Minaur, No. 5 Andrey Rublev meets Van De Zandschulp, No. 6 Rune battles Daniel Altmaier, Tsitsipas squares off against Zverev and Hurkacz collides with Cerundolo.