The World No.1 Novak Djokovic admitted that it was an ugly tennis win for him after beating qualifier Ivan Gakhov in the opening round of the ongoing Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday. Djokovic won by 7-6, 6-2 to advance to the second round.

In fact, the Serbian played a competitive match after March when he lost to Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Dubai Duty-Free Championships. Thus, the talisman could not hit the ground running against World No. 198.

Djokovic feels he didn’t play his best in the first set, which was taken to the tiebreaker by the Russian. However, Djokovic was able to break Gakhov’s serve in the fifth game of the second set.

“It was probably, if you can call it this way, an ugly tennis win for me today,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “I haven’t played my best, particularly in the first set. And I kind of expected that that was going to happen in a way with swirly conditions, a lot of wind today, changing directions.

“It’s different practising and then playing an official match on clay, [where] I guess no two bounces are the same. It’s always quite unpredictable what’s going to happen. But all in all, I’m just pleased with the way I held my nerves I think in the important moments and I managed to clinch the two-set win.”

The Serbian admitted that he hadn’t seen Ivan Gakhov in action and feels the Russian played really well to push him on the back foot.

“I never saw Ivan play before today to be honest. I’ve seen a little bit of his video from yesterday’s match and that’s all,” Djokovic said. “That was not the best preparation, but he’s a young player coming up from the Challenger Tour and he just was on a roll.”

“He knows how to play, no doubt about it. Big serve, forehand, flat backhand stepping in,” Djokovic said. “So it was a very tricky opponent for today, but I’m glad I overcame the challenge.”

Djokovic will face either Lorenzo Musetti or Luca Nardi in the Round of 16.