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Match report

Viktor Troicki © Tennistalk.com
Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
2nd round
2/24/10 1 2 3 Tot
rs  Viktor Troicki 6 4 2 1
rs  Novak Djokovic 3 6 6 2
Novak Djokovic © Tennistalk.com
Michael Berrer © Tennistalk.com
Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
2nd round
2/24/10 1 Tot
de  Michael Berrer Nikolay Davydenko Retired
ru  Nikolay Davydenko 3 0
Nikolay Davydenko © Tennistalk.com

  • Djokovic overcomes Troicki, Davydenko retires

    2/24/10 2:52 PM | Ricky Dimon
    Novak Djokovic comes back from a set deficit to beat Viktor Troicki on Wednesday afternoon in Dubai. Michael Berrer also advances as Nikolay Davydenko retires with a wrist injury.

    Novak Djokovic recovered from a slow start to defeat fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday. Djokovic needed two hours and five minutes to book a quarterfinal spot alongside either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Ivan Ljubicic.

    Following a dismal opening frame of play in which he dropped serve twice and double-faulted on set point at 3-5, Djokovic got better and better as the match progressed. The world No. 2 missed three break chances at 1-1 in the second set, but he finally struck at 3-3 when another long game ended with a Troicki backhand error. Djokovic soon had four opportunities to break at 5-3 and close out the set, and although he squandered all four, he finished off a solid service game at 5-4 with a forehand winner.

    Having failed to put away his favored countryman in straight sets, Troicki struggled to regain his composure in the third. The world No. 35 committed a flurry of errors in the first game of the final set, lost his serve, and never got the break back. Djokovic broke again for 3-0 and cruised the rest of the way, dropping only five points in his last four service games. Dubai's No. 2 seed finished his comeback victory with just two aces and he double-faulted five times, but he still improved to 3-1 lifetime against Troicki.

    Djokovic appeared to be on course for a semifinal showdown with Nikolay Davydenko, but that is no longer the case as the fourth-seeded Russian retired with a wrist problem after one set against Michael Berrer. Davydenko did not get a look at one break point against Berrer and he dropped his own serve once before the 56th-ranked German closed out the set in routine fashion at 5-3.

    Davydenko promptly called it quits prior to the second set. "I was feeling okay while warming up, but then during the match the wrist was sore and swollen and I thought it is better to quit than continue and get it worse," explained the world No. 6.

    Berrer, who finished runner-up in Zagreb earlier this month, improves to a stellar 10-4 for his 2010 campaign. He will take on unseeded Marcos Baghdatis for a spot in the Dubai semifinals.



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