After winning back-to-back indoor titles (Telaviv Open, Astana) in early October, the 21 times Grand Slam champion,  Novak Djokovic,35, played again on Tuesday’s Rolex Paris Masters match.

He extended his winning streak to ten games by easily defeating 25-year-old Maxime Cressy.

The Serbian legend overcame the Cressy’s challange with 7-6(1), 6-4 as he controlled the serve for most of the time and had the freedom to attempt to Cressy’s powerful services.

Novak eventually broke through on the return and easily served out the match after scoring on his sixth break opportunity to go ahead at 5-4 in the second set.

With his all-out attack, Cressy came back in the opening set, saving three break points, but Djokovic easily took the set with two double faults in the tie-break.

The American played according to his aggressive game plan, hitting 10 double faults and 15 total aces. The strategy succeeded on his own serve, but Djokovic’s delivery was unaffected because the Serb only dropped six service points and did not reach a breakpoint.

“I had to lock in, I had to not give him gifts and points. What I could do and what I wanted to do is to really do what I do best, which is just be solid from the back of the court and wait for the opportunities when they are presented, try to capitalise on them… Just overall very pleased with the way I felt and the way I played,” Djokovic said as quoted by ATP.

Despite many short points, the sixth seed was able to show off his athleticism throughout the one-hour, 43-minute match.

He did this particularly on a backhand passing shot, which is also is trademark shot and that enabled him to secure the key break in set two, after which he basked in the acclaim of the Paris crowd.

Former World No.1 Novak’s exceptional return was on full display in a matchup against one of the top servers on the ATP Tour. Djokovic appreciated Cressy’s unique playing style after the match and talked about how it altered the way he handled the return.

On the other side, the third seed Casper Ruud won his opening match at the Paris event, defeating Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1, 7-6(7) in 84 minutes.

Ruud, who advanced to the quarterfinals in Paris last season, will next face either Italian Lorenzo Musetti or Nikoloz Basilashvili .