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Posted at 6:58 a.m., Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tennis: Djokovic beats Chardy to advance to second round

Associated Press

MARSEILLE, France — Novak Djokovic beat Jeremy Chardy of France 7-6 (4), 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Open 13 on Wednesday.

It was the Serb's first match since the Australian Open, where he also defeated Chardy.

Djokovic broke the 55th-ranked Chardy in the third game of the second set and held on to serve out the match.

In the first set, Djokovic jumped to a 4-1 lead, converting his second set point to win the tiebreaker.

The third-ranked Serb will next play Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic.

George Bastl of Switzerland and Michael Llodra of France also reached the second round.

Bastl, who replaced Richard Gasquet after the Frenchman withdrew with a right shoulder injury, upset Marc Gicquel of France 6-4, 6-3. And Llodra relied on a solid serve to oust South African qualifier Rik De Voest 7-6 (2), 6-1.

In other matches, Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia moved into the quarterfinals.

Lopez edged Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1), hitting 13 aces in the second set. Youzhny, a former top-10 player, beat the 36th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (2), 6-3.