Indian Wells (California), March 16 (DPA) Defending champion Novak Djokovic continued to rebuild his fragile confidence with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Argentine Marcel Vassallo Arguello to move into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters.
'This year hasn't started maybe the way I thought I would, but now I've raised my confidence in a higher level,' said the 2008 Australian Open champion Sunday.
'Winning there meant a lot for my confidence level and for my game overall,' said Djokovic.
Third seed Djokovic broke three times in his win over Vassallo Arguello in an hour and three-quarters, saving both of the break points he faced.
'Winning this first match, it's never easy, I played against a solid opponent,' said the Serb who beat Mardy Fish for the 2008 title. 'He made me work from the baseline. But I played as much as I needed to, and I'm happy to get through.'
Fish was not so lucky, hooked by up-and-coming Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-1), the number 48 who lost to the American in the Delray semi-finals late last month.
'The kid's good, it was a terrible draw for me,' lamented Fish. 'I played extremely well last week in the semis against him.
'I won 10 of the last 12 games against him there. But he certainly played a lot better. He served a ton better today and didn't give me very many break points.'
Argentine sixth seed Juan Del Potro opened with a victory over American Ryan Sweeting 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1, while Spanish 12th seed David Ferrer eliminated another countryman in Todd Widom 6-4, 7-5.
The US lost a third minor player as Nicolas Kiefer dispatched Bobby Reynolds 6-4, 6-2. Swiss 16th seed Stan Wawrinka beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-3.
On the women's side, Russian fourth seed Vera Zvonareva reached the fourth round over Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-1, while Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki stopped fellow north European Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
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