2011 Hopman Cup: Review Session 2 – Novak Djokovic vs. Andrey Golubev
In the second instalment of Serbia versus Kazakhstan, world number three Novak Djokovic met rising star Andrey Golubev as play continued on the second day at the 2011 Hopman Cup in Perth.
Earlier in the day, Ana Ivanovic met and defeated Yaroslava Shvedova to take Serbia into a 1-0 lead. Given Serbia’s lead, Djokovic only had to win this match to secure a Serbian win while Golubev needed one to keep Kazakhstan in
the running.
Ranked third in the world, Djokovic made his third appearance at the event having debuted in 2006 alongside Ivanovic. Djokovic returned to the event in 2008 partnering Jelena Jankovic. They made it to the finals in ’08 moving past
Chinese Taipei, Argentina and France before losing to eventual champions United States.
Sporting an impressive 61-18 win loss mark for the season, Djokovic finished the season with two title wins, winning them at Beijing and Dubai. He also put in final appearances at Basel and the United States Open. The latter earned
him a spot in the elite eight-man field at the season finale event in London. Defeating Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick, Djokovic was able to make it to the semis before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer.
A star on the rise in 2010, Golubev finished the season ranked 36th in the world. Winning his first career title in the year, Golubev reached a career high ranking of 33 in the world, in October, moving up forty-nine
places after defeating third seeded Jurgen Melzer at Hamburg. Putting in a final appearance at Kuala Lumpur, Golubev registered a 24-21 win loss mark for the season.
Having never met before in any ATP or ITF event, the head-to-head score rested at zero between the two. Given the disparity in their rankings, it came as no surprise to everyone when Djokovic eventually won the match though the
Kazakh threatened the Serb early into the match.
Winning set on service, the score was 5-4 with Djokovic serving for the tenth game. Breaking Djokovic’s service, Golubev was able to win the opener 6-4. However, the Serb returned to top form in the second and won it 6-3 to go
1-1 in the set score. Continuing his form into the decider, Djokovic rushed to a breadstick win over the Kazakh ensuring a 2-0 lead for Serbia.
Happy to win the tie for Serbia and not let Ivanovic down, Djokovic said, "I don’t want to find any excuses, but we got here just two days ago and it's very hard to get used to the time change and the conditions here. All in all,
I'm just happy to not embarrass Ana and bring her one point because she is playing really great. I was just trying because I wanted to make her happy. We have known each other since we were five and we played all the junior events that you can imagine, and
we have a great relationship. She's the nicest girl I know in tennis and for me she's the best in the world."
Serbia nailed the tie shut with a 3-0 victory after Ivanovic and Djokovic defeated the team of Shvedova and Golubev in mixed doubles by 7-6(7), 6-4.
Serbia next plays Australia on Tuesday morning while Kazakhstan plays Belgium in the evening.
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