Belgrade, Serbia – Italian Filippo Volandri cruised past wild card Marko Djokovic in first-round action Monday at the $485,000 Serbia Open.
Volandri whipped the 20-year-old younger brother of Serbian hero Novak Djokovic in 59 minutes, 6-3, 6-1, at MGM/Tennis Center Novak.
Novak Djokovic announced last week he would not be able to play this week in the hometown tournament run by his family. The two-time Serbia Open champ beat Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in last year's Belgrade finale.
Also on Day 1, Serbia's Dusan Lajovic defeated Russian fellow wild card Evgeny Donskoy 7-5, 6-4 and Croat Ivan Dodig snuck past Romanian Adrian Ungur 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.
This week's top seeds are recent Casablanca champion Pablo Andujar of Spain and Italian Andreas Seppi. Andujar will meet Volandri in the second round, while Seppi will encounter Dodig.
Belgrade serves as a tune-up for the French Open and will pay its newest champ $88,000.
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