Djokovic Battles Through To Quarter-finals; Federer Marches On

© Dubai Duty Free Tennis ChampionshipsNovak Djokovic was forced to work to secure his quarter-final place.

Federer marches on in bid for fifth Dubai title

There was drama on Wednesday night as defending champion Novak Djokovic was stretched by ambitious Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The second seeded Serbian came through 6-3 2-6 6-4, and was relieved to get past an opponent who was a finalist here in both 2004 and 2008.

Djokovic earned just one break in the first set when Lopez hit a double-fault, and then found himself outplayed in the second by an aggressive opponent who dominated much of the play by coming to the net. And, even though Djokovic broke to begin the final set, Lopez leveled at 3-3 to leave the outcome in the balance.

Djokovic, though, rose to the challenge and broke for 4-3 on his third break point, and that was enough to give him victory.

"Well, it's been an exciting match, to be honest, even though I was struggling," Djokovic said. "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.

"But I managed to come back. I was aware of the fact that I should return well and that should be the key of my victory tonight. But to be honest, I was a little bit surprised with the way he was returning. He was getting a lot of balls back and he was making me play an extra shot. In the rallies, we were quite even towards the end. So I’m just fortunate to go through," added Djokovic.

Lopez took some consolation from the fact that he had produced such a fine performance against a top-ranked opponent.

"You are always disappointed when you lose, especially when you have the chance to beat one of the best players in the world. But you have to think about the way you played, and I think I played great," he said. "But it was difficult to win my serve in the third set. He was very focused. He was returning very good, especially the second serve."

While Djokovic struggled, as he often did last year on his way to the title, top seed and four-time Dubai champion Roger Federer progressed comfortably against another Spaniard, Marcel Granollers, winning 6-3 6-4.

Third seed Tomas Berdych also progressed, getting the better of an opponent who had won nine of their previous meetings.

The Czech beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 7-6, winning four straight games from 1-1 in the first set but then working hard in the second as the Russian showed signs of the form that at one time took him into the world’s top five. Games went with serve until 5-5, and although Berdych then broke he was unable to serve out the match. He eventually sealed victory in the tiebreak, 7-5.

Just three seeds reached the quarter-finals as eighth seed Ernests Gulbis fell 6-3 5-7 6-1 against Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Richard Gasquet won the final five games as he overcame a spirited challenge from qualifier Sergei Bubka to win 6-2 7-5, and there were also wins for Florian Mayer, Philipp Petzschner and Gilles Simon.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, continues until February 26th.