Paris (AFP)

Novak Djokovic, N.1 world, seemed very weak physically Wednesday for his entry in the running at the Masters 1000 in Paris against Corentin Moutet (97th), but he escaped by taking advantage of the many mistakes of his opponent beat 7- 6 (7/2), 6-4.

"What dominates is disappointment, I do not have much to reproach myself for except for the opportunities I missed, but I can not do anything except play better next time," commented Moutet who played for the first time, at age 20, against the Serb.

"I think I bothered him a bit in the first set, that means the tactics, I had pretty well thought and then, after that, it was not enough, he was stronger than me. I still have a lot of work to get to this level of play constantly and I want to say as often as possible.Today, I had a good level of play but it was not enough to beat this kind player, "he added.

Djokovic, who will give Rafael Nadal his world throne after the tournament whatever happens, will face Thursday Kyle Edmund (75).

In the first set, Djokovic multiplied the faults directly (22 for 11 points winners). As exhausted, he owed his salvation to the large number of mistakes made by Moutet (23 for 11 points) and his inability to conclude the important points.

The Frenchman, for his first appearance in the second round of a tournament in this category, just below the Grand Slams, has indeed broken to lead 4-3, then 5-3 after saving four balls of breaking. But the Serb came back, saving two set balls in the process, and his momentum dominated the decisive game.

Arms dangling between exchanges, Djokovic was able to concentrate his forces to break and lead 2-1 in the second set. He continued his momentum until 4-1.

The Djoker lost one of his face-offs, but remained strong afterwards to win the match after 1:46 of obvious suffering.

"I did not pay too much attention to how he felt," said Moutet, "he made a few mistakes, but we used to have games where he was probably not doing so much. we are all more or less well with each passing day, it's the same for everyone, maybe he was not so good, I do not know, he's the only one who knows it. It's not my problem I want to say. "

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