Novak Djokovic eases through Sergiy Stakhovsky in round two – Dubai Tennis Championships 2012
World number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, continued his unbeaten run of the season, outmuscling the 74th ranked Ukrainian, Sergiy Stakhovsky, in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
The top seed Serbian took one hour and 29 minutes to wrap up the straight sets victory at 7-6(5), 6-3 to secure a quarter-final spot in the star-studded event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A jam-packed crowd at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre witnessed another display of sheer class and quality from the reigning world number one. Djokovic was a bit sloppy early in the contest but once getting in his winning groove,
the Serb never looked back. He manoeuvred his way through the opening set tie-breaker but blasted his way past Stakhovsky in the second set to conclude his ninth victory of the running season.
Djokovic kept his clean sheet against the 26-year-old Ukrainian and extended his all-time head-to-head lead by 3-0 against Stakhovsky. He clobbered 69 per cent of his first serve on target, belting eight aces and clinching 36 out
of 45 points on it to come out as the dominating winner. The top seed converted two of his four break opportunities en route to victory, whilst the Ukrainian registered just one break point in the entire matchup to finish on the losing side in the end.
"I was expecting a lot serve and volley attacks, especially after first serve," said the three-time Dubai Tennis Championships titlist, Djokovic. "He was using it really well, making my return games very difficult. But we both
controlled our service games quite well up to maybe the beginning of the second set. I had one bad service game; he had couple. I was fortunate to use the opportunity when it was presented."
A conventional start to the opening set witnessed both players holding their serves all the way to reach 6-6. The two contestants frittered away one break point apiece and a tie-breaker round came into play. Stakhovsky moved neck-to-neck
with the top ranked Djokovic in the decider and levelled the scores at 4-4. The Serbian then stung a crucial mini-break to seal the set in his favour at 7-6(5).
Stakhovsky was off to a flying start in the following set, stunning the world number one with a break point conversion to lead 3-1 early. However, it ignited the rage mode in Djokovic and he stung two successive serve breaks in
the sixth and eighth games to rocket away to victory at 6-3. He will face his fellow compatriot, Janko Tipsarevic, in the quarter-final draw.
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