Djokovic will lead Serbia in the Davis Cup final next month

Novak Djokovic made a winning start to his title defence at the Swiss Indoors with a straight-sets victory over Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.

The world number three, who beat Roger Federer in last year's final, eased through 6-4 6-2 and will next face Jarkko Nieminen or Daniel Brands.

Fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic beat Denis Istomin 6-2 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with top seed Federer.

There were also wins for Richard Gasquet and Viktor Troicki.

Djokovic admitted after the victory that his thoughts are already turning to a potentially historic Davis Cup final next month, when Serbia will host France as they try to win the event for the first time.

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"My main goal and ambition is to win the Davis Cup," said Djokovic. "It's like that for all of our players. Our country didn't have such a long tennis tradition until two or three years ago.

"Now we've had some big success and now the fans live for tennis."

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