Serbian Novak Djokovic through to quarterfinals of Dubai Tennis Championships 2011
Number two seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia made a place for himself in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2011 by beating Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the second round.
Djokovic got off to a good start taking the first set 6-3. However, Lopez bounced back in the second set and won it 6-2. The deciding third set went in favour of the Serb after a hard-fought battle as he took it 6-4.
“It's been an exciting match, to be honest, even though I was struggling. I don't think I've played bad, actually. He played really well in the second set. I did make some unforced errors, but the match turned around and he felt the momentum and he was playing
better than I did most of that second set,” stated Djokovic.
Earlier, Lopez faced China's Lu Yen-hsun. The Spaniard was up 5-0 in the first set shortly before Yen-hsun pulled out of the match and Lopez advanced to the next round. Meanwhile, Djokovic beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-3 to qualify for next round.
Djokovic will face Germany’s Florian Mayer in the quarterfinals of the Championships. Unseeded, Mayer made it through to the quarters after beating Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Golubev earlier faced the number seven seed, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. He was up 4-0 in the first set of the first round match before Baghdatis retired due to an illness. Mayer on the other hand, eliminated Israel’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-2 to advance to
the next round.
In other quarterfinals, number three seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic will be facing Germany’s Philipp Petzschner. On the other hand, world number two Roger Federer will be facing Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky and Frenchman Gilles Simon will be going head
to head with compatriot Richard Gasquet.
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