STEVE KEATING

Novak Djokovic, the world No.3, opened the defence of his Toronto Masters title in impressive style with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Canadian Frank Dancevic.

The Australian Open champion was joined in the third round by sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick, who launched his hardcourt campaign earlier in the day with a battling 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

World No.1 Roger Federer and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal were both due to enter into the $2.6m event late last night, having received first-round byes, while Andy Murray was also due to face Swede Thomas Johansson.

However, poor weather played havoc with the schedule for a second successive day. Matches had already been delayed for more than an hour due to rain when play was again suspended, with David Ferrer at a game apiece with American Robbie Ginepri, while clashes between Tommy Haas and Nikolai Davydenko, and Marin Cilic and Tommy Robredo were halted without score.

Playing in his first event since a shock second-round loss to Marat Safin at Wimbledon, Djokovic took a little time to shake off the rust, but soon got into his stride and broke Dancevic to take the opening set.

The 21-year-old Serb recorded an early break in the second to push 4-2 ahead, but then wobbled as Dancevic, urged on by a raucous home crowd, staged a late rally by breaking back and holding serve. However, Djokovic responded with another decisive break to seal the match in 77 minutes.

"I was aware he had nothing to lose, the big Canadian hope playing in front of his crowd with big support," said Djokovic. "Always the first match is the trickiest one, trying to keep the balance. There were some things that I was not really happy about, but it is still only the first match."

Roddick, also back in action for the first time since a second-round loss at Wimbledon, swept through the first set as dark clouds gathered above centre court, but was unable to sustain the momentum in the second and the 26-year-old Mahut fought back to level the match in a tie-break.

Roddick rediscovered his touch in the third set, the 2003 Toronto champion breaking Mahut at the first opportunity on the way to a 3-0 lead before closing out the match with his 18th ace.

"I thought I moved well and, most importantly, I felt well physically," said Roddick, who has been hampered by a sore right shoulder. "Hopefully my problems are behind me and I can play good tennis again."

Frenchman Gilles Simon, who won at Indianapolis on Sunday, crushed 18-year-old American qualifier Donald Young 6-1, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with Federer, a two-times champion on the Canadian hardcourts, while Nadal was waiting to take on Jesse Levine, after the American qualifier beat Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky 6-2 6-4.

Czech 16th seed Tomas Berdych cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.

n British No.3 Katie O'Brien failed in her bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Slovenia Open, losing 6-3 6-2 to Russia's Vera Dushevina. The 22-year-old from Yorkshire beat fifth seed Tsvetana Pironkova in Portoroz in the first round on Monday, but O'Brien, ranked 150, struggled with her serve against the world No.65 and was broken six times in the match.

n Britain's Melanie South made the most of her unexpected opportunity at the East West Bank Classic to reach the third round in Los Angeles.

The 22-year-old lost in qualifying, but was elevated into the main draw when Serena Williams pulled out, and received a bye into the second round courtesy of replacing the second seed.

South then beat Czech Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-2, gaining the upper hand in the middle of the first set after initially going a break down.

The British No.4, who has enjoyed a successful year, winning a tournament in Australia in March then reaching the quarter-finals of the DFS Classic in Birmingham, will face either 16th seed Sania Mirza or Meng Yuan in the third round.