Djokovic denies Dancevic his upset chance in Toronto (Roundup)

Toronto - Novak Djokovic began the defence of his Toronto Masters title as he dulled the big game of Canadian local hero Frank Dancevic 6-4, 6-4, on Tuesday to reach the third round. Serbs filled the stands with Dancevic, who is of Serbian, battling third seeded Serbian Djokovic. Djokovic was putting behind a poor Wimbledon showing, but said he's not thinking of his leading rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, both of whom he beat in Montreal a year ago on the way to the trophy. Djokovic and Dancevic fired up their serves from the start, with Djokovic finding his precision return game to make the difference in his first visit to Toronto. 'I did what I needed to win, so I'm happy,' he said. 'I'm not looking at ranking points, I'm just trying to enjoy. I've had my best results on hardcourts.' Djokovic ended the first set with a break and came through after Dancevic saved a match point in the eighth game of the second, breaking but then losing serve to go down at home. Andy Roddick pronounced himself in his best shape since spring after a shoulder injury, and proved it with a battling 6-1, 6-7 (6- 8), 6-3 victory over France's Nicolas Mahut. 'I feel good for the first time since probably we finished our Davis Cup tie in April,' said the sixth seed, who won the Canadian title in 2003 but has suffered since May with his problem. Roddick believes that as he skips the Beijing Olympics to focus on winning a second US Open, he is beginning the second half of his season as he reaches the Canadian third round after a bye. 'It's almost like two separate years, I'm starting again. I had some really good wins and then got hurt,' said Roddick, February's Dubai champion. 'I probably tried to come back a little sooner than I should've.' Roddick's fortunes hit rock-bottom with a second-round loss at Wimbledon to Serb Janko Tipsarevic. Tuesday's victory - interrupted by light rain - was his first time on court since. 'I got to go home and have two or three weeks of actually really good training,' he said after the disheartening defeat. 'Hopefully that's behind me and start trying to play good tennis again.' In the first round, Czech 16th seed Tomas Berdych caught Finn Jarkko Nieminen after a trans-Atlantic trip and a clay-court Davis Cup week, inflicting a 6-3, 6-1 defeat. Patched-together Tommy Haas continued to stretch his tennis dream as he beat fellow veteran Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-2. The 30-year-old German is full of optimism half a year after his third shoulder surgery, convinced that if he can remain healthy, he has a future in the game. 'Basically I'm living my dream, and I'd like to continue that as long as I can,' said Haas, the one-time world number two and a quarter-finalist last week in Indianapolis, where he lost to champion Gilles Simon of France. Other winners included Croatian Marin Cilic, who beat Czech Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Simon advanced in less than an hour over American teenager Donald Young 6-1, 6-3. Jesse Levine will line up on Wednesday against second-seeded Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal after beating Canadian Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-4. Swedes Robin Soderling and Thomas Johansson both advanced, with Soderling thrashing Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-1 and qualifying lucky loser Johansson taking out Kazak Andrey Golubev 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.