Indian Wells, California  - Novak Djokovic insisted Friday that he has nothing to prove beyond trying to play his best tennis as he defends his title at the Indian Wells Masters.

Ranked third behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the Serb opens play after a bye as the month-long US spring hard-court season begins in the California desert.

"I'm not trying to defend anything," said the 2008 Australian Open champion, who lifted the Dubai trophy late last month. "I'm always trying to improve, so I don't pay too much attention to the rankings."

Djokovic is trying to recover from a Davis Cup disaster for Serbia last weekend, when the national team was trounced by Nadal-led Spain in Benidorm. Djokovic lost both of his singles rubbers.

He is focusing on regrouping in a hurry in his second round match at the weekend, after the bye given to leading seeds.

"In the last two or three years I've played really well, especially in Indian Wells, where I feel very comfortable," said the 2007 finalist against Nadal.

"The surface suits to my game, and the weather is always nice. When you do well in one place, next year you're coming with a lot of confidence and motivation to repeat the success."

The heel injury troubles of fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko continued, with the Russian withdrawing to be replaced by Olivier Patience of France.

In men's first-round play at the Tennis Garden, Sam Querrey got a home win as the Southern Californian beat Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. He was joined by wild-card compatriot Ryan Sweeting, a winner over Wayne Odesnik 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

US qualifier Todd Widom put out Spaniard Ivan Navarro 6-4, 7-6 (7- 4) in blustery conditions to complete a Friday hat-trick for the Americans.

Women moved ahead into the second round, with Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki wasting no time in beating Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-1, 6-1. Israel's Shahar Peer upset French former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, the number 10, with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 result.

Former number 1 Amelie Mauresmo continued her comeback after several poor seasons since winning two Grand Slam titles in 2006, as she advanced over German Anna-Lena Groenefeld in a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 battle.

"It was not a great level of play, but the main thing got done today - to go through this first match, which wasn't so easy," said the Frenchwoman.

"It's my first match after almost four weeks. You want to try to get into it and get into a rhythm, which was not so great today. But it was a good fight. I'm happy to go through and have the opportunity to do better in the next round."

Mauresmo, her ranking back up to 20th, was competing for the first time since she won the Paris indoor title in mid-February.

Estonian Kaia Kanepi beat Virginie Razzano 7-6 (7-2), 1-0 when the injured French player retired. (dpa)