New Delhi, Nov. 4 -- The men's record 24-time Grand Slam winner is chasing a 103rd career title, which would move him level in second place with Roger Federer. Jimmy Connors leads in the Open era on 109.

But the 10th-seeded Serb could have gone out early in Paris.

Serving at 4-4 in the second set, he needed to save three break points to prevent Vacherot - who won the Swiss Indoors on Sunday and beat Djokovic in the Shanghai Masters semifinals last year - from serving for the match at the indoor tournament.

"His second serves are faster than my first serves, so it's very tough to play a guy in these conditions, which are really, really fast," Djokovic said. "Last year was very slow, this year is like ice."

Djokovic was bamboozled by th...