World No. 3 Novak Djokovic has made a strong to his grass season as he saw off Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 6-1 at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club.
Djokovic put the pressure on Auger-Aliassime early on and claimed the first break in the opening game of the match.
Auger-Aliassime had a chance to quickly recover from a break down but Djokovic saved three consecutive break points in the second game and opened a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth game, Auger-Aliassime missed out on two more break points as Djokovic took a 3-1 lead.
Auger-Aliassime paid the price for missing out on five early break points as Djokovic earned his second break in the seventh game for a 5-2 lead.
Up by a double break, Djokovic had no problems closing out the set on his service in the eighth game.
Djokovic was even more dominant in the second set
After easily losing the first set, Auger-Aliassime managed to serve out the opening game of the second set.
However, that was all from Auger-Aliassime as he didn’t win a single game in the rest of the match.
In the second set, Djokovic broke Auger-Aliassime in the third, fifth and seventh games – all while not allowing the Canadian a single break point.
On Wednesday, Djokovic’s rival Rafael Nadal also kicked off his grass season.
Just two hours earlier, Nadal defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-2 6-3 at the Hurlingham Club.
Both Nadal and Djokovic decided not to play any ATP events leading up to Wimbledon.
Instead, they decided to play the Hurlingham exhibition and use it as a pre-Wimbledon warm-up.
Earlier this week, the Hurlingham exhibition organizers announced Djokovic and Nadal would not compete against each other this week.
Going into Wimbledon, many consider Djokovic and Nadal as the top favorites for the title at The Championships.
Djokovic is a six-time Wimbledon champion and will return to the tournament as the defending champion this year, while Nadal will be seeking his third title at The All England Club.