Novak Djokovic is shifting nearer to his devastating finest.
The World No. 1 answered all of the questions fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz requested Thursday on the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the place he defeated the Pole 6-3, 7-5 to achieve the quarter-finals. If Daniil Medvedev defeats Borna Coric within the final match of the day, it is going to set a blockbuster showdown between the previous World No. 1 and Djokovic within the final 4 on the ATP 500 occasion.
“It was a challenging match as it always is against Hubert. One of the best guys on the Tour, definitely,” Djokovic mentioned in his on-court interview. “Fantastic personality. Very lovable guy, a great relationship with everyone. He’s always respectful. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Hurkacz threw the whole lot in his deep arsenal at Djokovic on centre court docket. From profitable a degree after hitting a tweener within the early moments of the match to placing stress on the Serbian by shifting ahead, the Pole tried to take the 35-year-old out of his consolation zone.
It was to no avail. Djokovic dominated on serve — he didn’t face a break level — and chipped away to earn alternatives till he broke by way of. The prime seed transformed two of his eight alternatives to advance after one hour and 21 minutes and take a 5-0 lead within the pair’s ATP Head2Headvert collection.
Hurkacz was closest to breaking by way of at 5-4 within the second set, when he took a 0/30 benefit. But after Djokovic served his manner out of hassle, he seized the match within the subsequent sport.
The Pole fended off the primary 4 break factors he confronted within the sport, however Djokovic unleashed a trademark backhand down the road to assert his fifth probability, earlier than efficiently serving for his place within the semi-finals.
“I think he’s got one of the best serves in the game, so in the second set until that 11th game in the second set, I didn’t really have too many chances against his serve,” Djokovic mentioned. “He was profitable his service video games comfortably. Fortunately for me, I additionally discovered the rhythm on my serve all through the second set and held my serve.
“Love-30 at 5-4 for him, found a couple of good serves, good plays. Really one or two points can always decide [the winner] of matches like this. There’s not much that is separating both players. But I’m really, really glad with the way I played under pressure.”
Djokovic’s Best Starts To A Season
| Year | Record |
| 2011 | 41-0 |
| 2020 | 26-0 |
| 2013 | 17-0 |
| 2023 | 15-0* |
| 2016 | 14-0 |
*Current season
Djokovic, who earlier than arriving in Dubai had not competed since lifting his tenth Australian Open trophy, is now 15-0 on the season, marking his fourth-best profitable streak to begin a season.
In the primary spherical, he wanted a final-set tie-break to claw previous Tomas Machac. Now Djokovic is 2 wins from capturing his sixth title in Dubai and his 94th tour-level crown total. That would tie him with Ivan Lendl for the third-most titles within the Open Era.
Source web site: www.atptour.com
