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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