Novak Djokovic qualifies for semi-finals of Dubai Tennis Championships 2011
Novak Djokovic of Serbia moved a step closer to winning his third straight title in Dubai when he defeated Florian Mayer of Germany in straight sets. The Serb won the match 7-5, 6-1 in 75 minutes.
The world number three, who won his second grand slam at the Australian Open in February 2011, improved his record to 10-0 in the season.
Djokovic struggled at the start of the match. He lost his opening serve of the first set and while serving at 0-2, he had to face two more break points. However, he was able to save both of them and managed to hold his serve on his fourth game point.
Mayer served for the first set at 5-4 but got broken at love. Djokovic then held his serve to make Mayer serve to stay in the set at 5-6, but the German was again broken at love and lost the set 5-7.
Mayer’s first serve was weak as he was unable to hit any ace and managed to put just 48 per cent of his first serves in. The Serb hit five aces and won 82 per cent of the points on his first serve.
After winning the opening set, the second seed Serb never looked back and demolished his opponent in the second set.
He broke his opponent three times in a one-sided set. He took the lead when he broke Mayer at 1-1 in the second set. He won the last five games of the set and won the match by taking the second set 6-1. The Serb won 93 per cent of the points on his first
serve and did not face any break point in the decisive set.
“It was a very slow start,” said Djokovic. “I was not moving my legs well. I was making lots of unforced errors, but when I needed to play well and needed to keep the ball in the court, I did. The match turned around after the break at 5-4.”
The Serbian faces third seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the semi-finals. He leads the head-to-head record 5-1 against the Czech.
Commenting on his next match, Djokovic said, “It will be a tough one. He's been playing really well in the last year and a half. He's a quite consistent player right now. We played in Australia. He has a very powerful serve, very fast baseline strokes, very
flat, so I guess I need to be patient and wait for my chances.”
Tags: