Djokovic off to winning start

Djokovic will be the world\'s top ranked player if he wins the French Open Novak Djokovic extended his unbeaten record in 2011 to 38 wins on Monday with a straight sets dismissal of hapless Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker in the first round of the French Open. One day after his 24th birthday, the red-hot, world number two Serb saw off his 71st-ranked opponent 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 as he began his campaign to win a first Roland Garros title in impressive style.
Djokovic, who is likely to depose Rafael Nadal as world number one by the end of the tournament, is also favourite to snatch the Spaniard\'s French Open title, having seen off his rival in the Madrid and Rome claycourt finals.

Djokovic\'s win on Monday took him to within four victories of equalling John McEnroe\'s 1984 record for a winning season start of 42 triumphs.
He needed just 92 minutes to see of De Bakker, who made the third round last year but came into Roland Garros having won just three times all year.
\"It\'s my favourite Grand Slam, even though I haven\'t won it yet,\" said Djokovic, a semi-finalist in 2007 and 2008.
\"I\'ve been playing really well on clay. I\'ve won three (claycourt) tournaments (Belgrade, Madrid and Rome) in the last few weeks, so I\'m trying to build on that confidence,\" added Djokovic, whose complete winning streak has now reached 40 matches, stretching back to Serbia\'s Davis Cup triumph in December.

Djokovic, the Australian Open champion, who has seven titles under his belt already this year, will play either French wild card Benoit Paire or Romania\'s Victor Hanescu for a place in the last 32.
Argentina\'s Juan Martin del Potro, a former US Open champion and a semi-finalist here in 2009, overcame a first-set blip to defeat big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic.
Del Potro, who was a doubt for the tournament because of a hip injury, having missed the 2010 event due to wrist surgery, claimed a 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win.
The 25th-seeded Del Potro, who hit 21 unforced errors to Karlovic\'s 42, will face Slovenia\'s Blaz Kavcic for a third-round place.
Later on Monday, 16-time Grand Slam title winner Roger Federer, who was the 2009 champion, begins his 13th successive Roland Garros campaign against Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez.
Lopez, the world 41, has lost all of his eight matches against the great Swiss.
But he gave Federer an almighty fright in Madrid earlier this month when he had a match point in their second-round encounter and also led 5-2 in the deciding tie-break.

Lopez has lost in the first round seven times in his 10 visits to Paris.
Nadal, bidding to equal Bjorn Borg\'s record of six French Open titles, gets his campaign underway on Tuesday against John Isner of the United States.
In early results on Monday, Djokovic\'s Davis Cup-winning team-mate Viktor Troicki, the 15th seed, defeated Germany\'s Julian Reister 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, while Russian 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny saw off Japan\'s Go Soeda 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.