Another day, another struggle for Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian sensation survived Marton Fucsovic in the second round in Doha at the Qatar Open (4-6 6-4 6-1) to rally again soon after against the world no.21 Nikoloz Basilashvili.
The match
Basilashvili commenced extremely strong with a 4-1 lead after breaking the world no.1 twice. As often happens, Djokovic started slowly but surely to find his groove and after breaking back (4-2), he consolidates (4-3) and he had even a ball to make it even to 4-all. However, Nikoloz managed to hold his serve, and he won the set 6-4.
It was clear that things changed on court in the second part of the opening set, and Novak started strong the second. He grabbed a strong 3-0 lead before winning 6-3.
Djokovic broke his opponent immediately in the beginning of the 3rd set (1-0) to be broken soon after (1-1). The world no.1 managed to win another break in the 5th game (3-2), and that was enough for him to win the encounter 4-6 6-3 6-4. The match ended after 1 hour and 56 minutes.
Basilashvili was playing terrific. DJOKOVIC
After the match, the Serbian acknowledged that Nikoloz played fantastic tennis to comment
“I thought Basilashvili was playing terrific from the beginning. I expected him to. I knew that he’s playing probably the tennis of his life in the past 10 months, and he’s definitely one of the greatest hitters in the game.”
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The semifinal vs. Bautista-Agut
Nole will face Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinal. The H2H is 7-1 for Djokovic that is the hot favorite to reach the final.
More about Novak Djokovic
| IN THE SEMIFINALS |
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