Djokovic Requires 54 Minutes To Win; Joins Berdych In Third Round

© AFP/Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic has an ATP World Tour-best 30-5 record at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in 2012.

Second seed Novak Djokovic opened his Shanghai Rolex Masters campaign on Wednesday by knocking out Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-2 in just 54 minutes to improve to a 49-1 against non-Top 10 players this year. Djokovic, who lost just five of his service points, is also an ATP World Tour-best 30-5 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.

"Very pleased with my serving in Beijing and obviously the first match today," said Djokovic. "So that's something that I've been working on, obviously. Relying on the serve in today's tennis is a big advantage. So I try to get as many free points as possible. Today that was the case. It helped me a lot to defeat my opponent."

Djokovic has a shot at returning to No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings this week, should Roger Federer lose before the quarter-finals and the Serbian go onto lift his 33rd tour-level trophy.

Djokovic will play Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the third round. Lopez won 76 per cent of his service points to break a two-match losing streak against Philipp Kohlschreiber, the No. 16 seed from Germany, 6-3, 6-4 in 73 minutes.

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Fourth seed Tomas Berdych improved to 4-2 lifetime against Andreas Seppi of Italy after a 6-3, 6-3 second-round win in 79 minutes.

The 27-year-old Czech is on course for a third straight Top 10 finish to the season after compiling a 1-2 record in ATP World Tour finals and a 51-18 match record. He is No. 6 in South African Airways ATP Rankings Race To London. Seppi drops to 6-50 against Top 10 opponents in his career.

Berdych will next challenge American Sam Querrey, who fought back from a 1-3 deciding set deficit to beat No. 14 seed and last year's semi-finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes.

Nishikori won his second ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. Nishikori, who picked up a right ankle knock last week, said, “I tried to play, but he had a good serve. I broke him first in third set, but couldn't finish the match. It's disappointing.”

German Florian Mayer has withdrawn from the tournament to gift two-time defending champion and No. 3 seed Andy Murray a place in the third round.