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Vinay Nayudu
Doha
Two-time champion in Doha, Novak Djokovic has had an impeccable record at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex. The Serbian has only lost once here, in the quarter-finals, in his debut year in 2015. In 2016, he didn’t drop a set going on to lift the Falcon trophy, and the following year he prevailed over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Britain’s Andy Murray with three-set wins to emerge as champion a second time.
Now in 2019, the World No.1 is bidding to emulate Swiss maestro Roger Federer by winning in Qatar for a third time. And the man, who himself admitted to be “very, very confident” given his blazing start at the $1.4m Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2019 event, was however made to rally from being a set down by Hungarian Marton Fucsovics at the centre court on Wednesday.
It was quite a scare indeed as the world number 36 Fucsovics, who is also exactly as tall as Djokovic at 6’2”, claimed the opening set pushing his opponent into conceding the much-needed break before the Serbian decided to change gears and eventually dictate terms to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 after two hours.
It also meant that both Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka stayed on collision course for a likely semi-final meeting. Wawrinka too faced resistance from big-hitting Chilean Nicolas Jarry, but the Swiss stayed steady and ensured a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win in an 89-minute battle.
For the 14-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic and 3-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka to meet in the last four, they will have to overcome their quarter-final opponents. While Djokovic meets the rising star and world number 21 from Georgia Nikoloz Basilashvili, Wawrinka will play Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.
The 26-year-old Basilashvili, who won two ATP 500 titles in 2018 to become the first champion from Georgia, accounted for 2018 Qatar ExxonMobil Open finalist Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 6-4.
World number 24 Agut too was brisk in his 6-1, 6-4 win over qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
Unseeded Dusan Lajovic of Serbia booked a quarters clash with 4th seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy with a 7-6 (4), 0-6, 7-5 win over qualifier Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, who had accounted for 6th seeded Belgian David Goffin in the first round.
Cecchinato was given a walk over by Argentina’s Guido Pella as he was suffering from lower back pain.
Debutant Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France did himself proud registering a hard-fought win against German qualifier Maximilian 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6).
In the last match of the day, veteran Fernando Verdasco of Spain fell to Czech Tomas Berdych. Verdasco had won the first set 6-4, while Berdych won the second 6-3. Berdych who is making a comeback to the Tour after suffering injuries in 2018 claimed the third set 7-5.
The busy day threw up many absorbing contests but none provided more jitters than the one in which Djokovic was involved.
All seemed cool in the contest till 4-4 in the first set before an eager Fucsovics began to make inroads. The Hungarian, who won the Geneva tournament, earned two break points but Djokovic stuck to his guns. A third break point, however, saw Fucsovics seize his chance as his backhand on the line caught the Serbian off guard.
The Hungarian held his nerve, serving out the 10th game on love to take a one-set lead.
Buoyed by the success, Fucsovics tried to keep up the pace but then Djokovic stepped up his level of play. The 31-year-old who is 72-time Tour-level titlist found his range on his forehand side, earning two set points with a sharp-angled winner before clinching the set in dramatic fashion as Fucsovics made an ill-judged Hawk Eye challenge on a forehand which clipped the baseline.
Djokovic was back where he belongs and the final set seemed a mere formality.
Later, Novak and his younger brother Marko Djokovic also made it to the doubles semi-finals.
The Serbian siblings defeated Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and his Serbian partner Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 in the quarter-finals.
The Djokovic brothers, who had not won a match together in their five attempts as a pair before coming to Doha, have now won two from two outings.
Doha
Two-time champion in Doha, Novak Djokovic has had an impeccable record at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex. The Serbian has only lost once here, in the quarter-finals, in his debut year in 2015. In 2016, he didn’t drop a set going on to lift the Falcon trophy, and the following year he prevailed over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Britain’s Andy Murray with three-set wins to emerge as champion a second time.
Now in 2019, the World No.1 is bidding to emulate Swiss maestro Roger Federer by winning in Qatar for a third time. And the man, who himself admitted to be “very, very confident” given his blazing start at the $1.4m Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2019 event, was however made to rally from being a set down by Hungarian Marton Fucsovics at the centre court on Wednesday.
It was quite a scare indeed as the world number 36 Fucsovics, who is also exactly as tall as Djokovic at 6’2”, claimed the opening set pushing his opponent into conceding the much-needed break before the Serbian decided to change gears and eventually dictate terms to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 after two hours.
It also meant that both Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka stayed on collision course for a likely semi-final meeting. Wawrinka too faced resistance from big-hitting Chilean Nicolas Jarry, but the Swiss stayed steady and ensured a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win in an 89-minute battle.
For the 14-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic and 3-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka to meet in the last four, they will have to overcome their quarter-final opponents. While Djokovic meets the rising star and world number 21 from Georgia Nikoloz Basilashvili, Wawrinka will play Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.
The 26-year-old Basilashvili, who won two ATP 500 titles in 2018 to become the first champion from Georgia, accounted for 2018 Qatar ExxonMobil Open finalist Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 6-4.
World number 24 Agut too was brisk in his 6-1, 6-4 win over qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
Unseeded Dusan Lajovic of Serbia booked a quarters clash with 4th seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy with a 7-6 (4), 0-6, 7-5 win over qualifier Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, who had accounted for 6th seeded Belgian David Goffin in the first round.
Cecchinato was given a walk over by Argentina’s Guido Pella as he was suffering from lower back pain.
Debutant Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France did himself proud registering a hard-fought win against German qualifier Maximilian 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6).
In the last match of the day, veteran Fernando Verdasco of Spain fell to Czech Tomas Berdych. Verdasco had won the first set 6-4, while Berdych won the second 6-3. Berdych who is making a comeback to the Tour after suffering injuries in 2018 claimed the third set 7-5.
The busy day threw up many absorbing contests but none provided more jitters than the one in which Djokovic was involved.
All seemed cool in the contest till 4-4 in the first set before an eager Fucsovics began to make inroads. The Hungarian, who won the Geneva tournament, earned two break points but Djokovic stuck to his guns. A third break point, however, saw Fucsovics seize his chance as his backhand on the line caught the Serbian off guard.
The Hungarian held his nerve, serving out the 10th game on love to take a one-set lead.
Buoyed by the success, Fucsovics tried to keep up the pace but then Djokovic stepped up his level of play. The 31-year-old who is 72-time Tour-level titlist found his range on his forehand side, earning two set points with a sharp-angled winner before clinching the set in dramatic fashion as Fucsovics made an ill-judged Hawk Eye challenge on a forehand which clipped the baseline.
Djokovic was back where he belongs and the final set seemed a mere formality.
Later, Novak and his younger brother Marko Djokovic also made it to the doubles semi-finals.
The Serbian siblings defeated Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and his Serbian partner Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 in the quarter-finals.
The Djokovic brothers, who had not won a match together in their five attempts as a pair before coming to Doha, have now won two from two outings.
