World No. 1 Novak Djokovic kicked off his bid for a fourth Canadian crown with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) second-round win over a stubborn Thomaz Bellucci at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday.
Bellucci, with just one win in five visits to Canada and coming off a first-round loss at Washington, appeared to be the perfect opponent for Djokovic to launch his buildup to the U.S. Open but provided a stiff test for the Serb.
"Match could have gone either way, honestly, especially in the second set," Djokovic told reporters after battling Bellucci for an hour and 50 minutes. "But we both had our chances to break. We got to the tiebreak, which I thought was fair, then it was anybody's game.