ATP Dubai: Novak Djokovic only lets Karen Khachanov hope for a moment
Novak Djokovic is in the quarterfinals of his comeback tournament. The world number one beat Karen Khachanov 6: 3 and 7: 6 (2) in the round of 16 in Dubai.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit:
Feb 23, 2022, 05:57 pm
After the safe opening success over Lorenzo Musetti, Novak Djokovic had no problems worth mentioning in the round of 16 of the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai: the 20-time Grand Slam winner beat Karen Khachanov in the round of 16 despite a mini comeback in the meantime Russians ultimately safe with 6: 3 and 7: 6 (2).
Djokovic managed a quick break to make it 3-1 in the first set, which he then safely transported to win the set. The spectators saw a similar picture in the second round: the Serb took the serve from Khachanov to make it 2-1, but had to accept his first break of the tournament when the score was 4-3. The set went into a tiebreak, in which Djokovic converted his first match point to a 6: 3 and 7: 6 (2) success after an hour and 38 minutes of play.
In the quarterfinals Djokovic will face Jiri Vesely on Friday. The Czech defeated Doha winner Roberto Bautista Agut surprisingly smoothly 6: 2 and 6: 4. Interesting: Vesely won the only duel between the two so far in three sets at the ATP 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo six years ago.
In Dubai, meanwhile, number two in the tournament, Andrey Rublev, also got her ticket to the quarter-finals. The Russian beat Soonwoo Kwon 4-6, 6-0 and 6-3. In the first match on Center Court, Jannik Sinner had already held his own against Andy Murray .