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

It was the Serb's first match since the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, 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 earned a mini-break at 1-0 and jumped to a 4-1 lead, converting his second set point to win the tie-breaker.

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

George Bastl of Switzerland and Michael Llodra of France also reached the second round while Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia moved into the quarter-finals.

Lopez edged Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) to even the score in their head-to-head matches to 2-2.

Youzhny, a former top-10 player, beat the 36th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (2), 6-3, improving his record against Seppi to 4-0.

Bastl, a lucky loser who replaced Richard Gasquet after the Frenchman withdrew Monday because of a right shoulder injury, upset Marc Gicquel of France 6-4, 6-3.

Llodra relied on a solid serve to oust South African qualifier Rik De Voest 7-6 (2), 6-1.