Djokovic en route to title defense at Dubai Tennis Championships

Thursday, 25 February 2010 00:00

World N0. 2 Novak Djokovic, and highest seeded after Federer’s withdrawal from the tournament, looks like huge favorite to defend his title at the ATP World Tour 500 in Dubai.

The Serb bounced back from a first-set loss against Ivan Ljubicic to win his quarter-final match 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday. The 30-year-old Croatian served at the highest level in the first set, winning 16 of 18 service points including 14 aces, and broke Djokovic twice to take the first partial in 32 minutes.

Djokovic saved two break points in the eighth game of the second set, and Ljubicic squandered four straight points at 4-5 to allow the Serb to level the match. With the support of about 150 Serbian fans in the Center Court arena, Djokovic blasted through the third set in 28 minutes.

With Davydenko and Tsonga out of the way on his side of the draw, and Murray’s loss in the second round in the top half, Djokovic looks like he’s on his way to defend his 2009 title at the Barclay Dubai Tennis Championships. His opponent in the semis is Marcos Baghdatis who defeated Michael Berrer of Germany 7-6, 6-1 in the final match of the day. Djokovic has a 3-0 record against the Cypriot.

In the top half of the draw, Jurgen Melzer upset World No 9 and 6-seed Marin Cilic, fighting back from a 1-4 deficit in the first set, to beat the Croatian 7-6, 7-5 in a thrilling contest that lasted two hours and five minutes.

The Austrian has taken full advantage of Federer’s absence at the top of the draw, and so did his semi-final opponent Mikhail Youzhny who defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semis. Tipsarevic had produced the biggest upset of the tournament in the previous round, eliminating World No 3 and 3-seed Andy Murray in three hard-fought sets 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.

What were the odds to see those two players in the semis before the tournament started?

Youzhny takes a 3-2 advantage record against Melzer into the SFs, but the 31-world ranked Austrian played a great match against Cilic, and the Russian, though favorite, should have his hands full in this contest for a spot in the final.

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Djokovic en route to title defense at Dubai Tennis Championships

Djokovic en route to title defense at Dubai Tennis Championships

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