Novak Djokovic overcomes Xavier Malisse to clear the opening round – Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
World number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, survives the fright night in Basel, as he laboured hard to take down the 47th ranked Belgian, Xavier Malisse, in the opening round of the Davidoff Swiss Open Basel on Tuesday.
The top seeded Serb was stretched to three sets in the contest before he finally wrapped up victory at 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, to advance into the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Being played on the indoor hard courts of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, the contest lasted for two hours and thirteen minutes, with some quality tennis display from both opponents. The belligerent top seed took off
the opener in his regular aggressive manner and blew away Malisse to get one up in no time. The Belgian retaliated in the following set and stunned the world number one to bring him down on even terms after pocketing the second set. More intense tennis was
seen in the final set but it was the brilliance of the in-form Djokovic which took him to victory in the end.
“I hoped that we would not get to the tie-break,” Djokovic admitted. “It’s really unpredictable in the third set tie-break who’s going to win. He made a couple of mistakes. I made some returns in. Overall, it wasn’t a great match
for me. I played many, many better matches this year than this one, but under the circumstances, for me the most important thing now is that I feel good on the court physically.”
Djokovic finally avenged his defeat at the hands of Malisse, who outplayed him at the Queen’s Club, in London, last year. The Serbian fired eight thudding aces but coughed seven costly double faults in the game. He still managed
to secure 38 out of 47 first serve points in the contest to drive Malisse out of the competition in the very first round.
The top seed converted four of his 10 break opportunities in the matchup, while Malisse registered just two of his eight break points to finish on the losing side in the end. Momentum kept oscillating in the contest but a crucial
break if serve in the last moments of the third set turned out to be decisive for Djokovic, who closed out the contest at 7-5 to reach the second round of Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel.
Djokovic will take on the winner of the opening round clash between the Pole qualifier, Lukasz Kubot and the German competitor, Tobias Kamke, in the second round of the tournament.
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