Paris, France – World No. 1 and former champion Novak seeded Andy Murray were a pair of third-round winners Thursday at the $3.06 million Paris Masters.
The reigning U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Djokovic dropped the first set against his 15th-seeded fellow Serb Viktor Troicki before rebounding for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory on the indoor hardcourts at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, where Djokovic titled two years ago.
Djokovic piled up 44 unforced errors, but also broke Troicki six times en route to the 1-hour, 56-minute victory. He is now 10-1 lifetime against his Davis Cup teammate, including wins in their last 10 meetings.
The 24-year-old Djokovic is now 69-4 this season and is enjoying one of the best-ever campaigns in the history of the ATP.
Djokovic's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be sixth-seeded French favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who handled Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday. Djokovic beat Tsonga in the 2008 Aussie Open finale.
Tsonga, who was the Paris Masters champ in 2008, has now qualified for the prestigious season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the 2011 Aussie Open runner-up Murray mauled 13th-seeded struggling American Andy Roddick 6-2, 6-2. Murray is now 8-3 lifetime against the former No. 1 Roddick, including a 2-0 record this year.
A frustrated Roddick received a warning from the chair umpire in the second set Thursday after he smashed his racquet on the court.
Roddick hasn't reached a final in almost nine months and will finish a year outside the top 10 for the first time since 2001.
"I just need to get in better shape as far as movement, and kind of catch up a little bit," Roddick said.
Murray, who is now 17-0 since the U.S. Open, will meet fifth-seeded Czech slugger Tomas Berdych on Friday.
In some other third-round play on Day 4, fourth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer leveled 14th-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-2 and Berdych beat 11th-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-4. Berdych, like Tsonga, has also qualified for the World Tour Finals.
The 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Berdych was the Paris Masters champion back in 2005.
Seventh-seeded American Mardy Fish, who also has qualified for the trip to London this month, was leading Argentine Juan Monaco 2-1 in the third set on Thursday when Fish retired from the bout. Monaco was 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-2 winner.
The 2011 Paris Masters titlist will claim $625,000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.