Djokovic Downs Murray To Retain Doha Title 2017
Djokovic Downs Murray To Retain Doha Title 2017
Jan082017
Next Gen ATP star Thanasi Kokkinakis made a dream return to the ATP World Tour when he teamed with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson to win the Brisbane International title Sunday.
The players, who ironically will play against each other in the first round of next week’s Apia Sydney International, both claimed their first tour-level doubles title with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over first-time team Gilles Muller and Sam Querrey.
Kokkinakis, who did not play a match on the ATP World Tour last year after undergoing December 2015 shoulder surgery, said: “It’s pretty crazy. I haven’t experienced that for a while. To be honest, I haven’t experienced a competitive match for a while. To go on a run like that with a mate and to beat some really quality teams, and to do it in a place like Brisbane, such a good event, as an Australian, as well, the home crowd, yeah, it’s pretty surreal.”
Thompson, who also reached the singles quarter-finals (l. Nishikori), said: “Definitely matches help, especially to start of the year. We played, I think, four doubles. I played three singles. I guess it’s more important for Thanasi. He hasn’t played for a long time. For him to get matches under his belt is huge.”
While Kokkinakis will make his singles return in Sydney, he is yet to decide if he will play singles at the Australian Open. “I definitely want to play doubles if my body is still not up to [singles, at the Australian Open]… I have got a couple little niggles which I’m trying to deal with at the moment, but I think that’s just — you can play as many practice sets and stuff like that as you want, but there’s nothing, even in doubles, there is nothing that compares to a real live match with real live pressure, that little bit of tension in the body and stuff like that… It still feels stupid to me to try to play five sets with a real spotty preseason at best.
“I’m just going to take it day by day and try and do all the right things off court, and hopefully the body feels all right. I have missed too much time now to put too much emphasis on one tournament. I need to do what’s best for my body and see what happens even after the Aussie summer.”
The Aussies earned their first title the hard way. They survived match tie-breaks in the opening two rounds against Pouille/Wawrinka and top seeds Herbert/Mahut, before dismissing Grand Slam doubles champions Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the semi-finals.
Grigor Dimitrov claimed his first title in over two years as he beat Kei Nishikori 6-2 2-6 6-3 to win the Brisbane International.
The world number 17 took one hour and 48 minutes to beat Nishikori, who is ranked fifth in the world.
Dimitrov, 25, won the first set quickly before Japan’s Nishikori won four consecutive games to level the match.
The Bulgarian then broke Nishikori in the final set – despite tweaking his ankle – to secure the title.
Nishikori has reached the Brisbane final six times but he has never won the tournament.
Revenge was sweet for Novak Djokovic on Saturday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Just six weeks removed from relinquishing the year-end No. 1 throne and ATP Finals title to Andy Murray, the Serbian notched a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the Doha final.
Djokovic successfully defended his title in the Qatari capital, improving to an impressive 20-0 against his rival when winning the first set. After watching Murray wrestle away the top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the World No. 2 was eager to make an early statement to open 2017.
“Best scenario I could ask for at the beginning of the season,” said Djokovic. “Playing all five matches in this tournament and then three hours against the No. 1, my biggest rival, and winning in a thrilling marathon match is something that definitely can serve as a positive incentive for what’s coming up.
“It’s only the beginning of the season, so we had a little laugh at the net actually about it. We both felt like if every match we’re going to play against each other is going to be this way this season, we’re going to have a fun time.”
The final was a thrilling exhibition of power and defensive prowess, with Djokovic and Murray exchanging bludgeoning blows from the baseline. The Serbian and the Scot took their rivalry to the next level last year and it continued soaring in their first encounter of 2017. Djokovic now leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head 25-11, but he acknowledges that the gap is narrowing.
“You might as well put a lot of hours in training and recovery, because every single point is a rally,” Djokovic added. “I did not expect anything else, to be honest. I knew that the only way to win against Andy is to work your way through him basically.
“He’s such a great defender and he is fighting so much and always gets the ball back. All the way to the last shot I didn’t know if I won the match. It was really, really thrilling performance from both of us. Just a great way to start the year.
“Every match we play is a huge challenge. You have to accept it and expect a great battle. Whether it’s a 250 or 1000 event or a Grand Slam final, it doesn’t change much, to be honest. You saw tonight how much we both wanted to win. Playing against your biggest rival always adds a little bit more flavour to the game and to the match.”
Djokovic will next head to Melbourne Park for the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open. He is looking forward to reuniting with two other longtime rivals – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Swiss and the Spaniard are returning to action after injuries hampered their 2016 campaigns.
“Tennis missed them,” Djokovic said. “We missed them, to be honest. Because these guys are legends of our sport. They are the guys that have done so much for the game on and off the court.
“They are stars. Anywhere they show up, people love them. They’re very important assets to our game. It’s great to have both of them back and to have Andy and myself and Wawrinka, of course everybody playing after a long time at the one Grand Slam together. I’m looking forward to competing with these guys and to see them. We’ll see what happens.”
Andy Murray’s remarkable 28-match win streak ended on Saturday when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open final. But the Scot said he’s still feeling positive about his start to the 2017 ATP World Tour season.
“Obviously disappointed not to win tonight, but I played pretty good the last couple of the matches. I think physically it was a good test to start the year, and I did good there,” Murray said. “My body feels all right just now, so that’s positive.”
Murray hadn’t dropped a set until facing Djokovic in the final. The Scot had rolled through Jeremy Chardy, Gerald Melzer, Nicolas Almagro and third seed Tomas Berdych to extend his match-win streak to 28.
The impressive win streak dated back to September, when Murray lost to Juan Martin del Potro during Davis Cup play. The four-month unbeaten run, the best stretch of Murray’s career, featured five ATP World Tour titles and a victory against World No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the title match of the ATP Finals. That win made Murray the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.
The Scot was going for his third Doha title on Saturday, having also won the tournament in 2008 and 2009. Instead, he leaves Qatar with a finalist trophy and areas to focus on as the 2017 season gets underway.
“There are things I can do better. I wasn’t that clinical on break points this week, which maybe that comes with playing a few more matches,” he said.
Murray converted only 37 per cent of his break points (14/38) for the week, including two of seven against Djokovic in the final. To compare, the Serbian won 61 per cent of his break points, including three of four against Murray.
“That was the difference this evening,” Murray said of break points. “That’s something I could definitely do a little bit better.”
There were plenty of other positives to take from his opening week of the season, though. Murray has now made the final in 13 of his past 14 tournaments, dating back to the Mutua Madrid Open in May. He also still owns a 780-point lead over Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
Read More: Novak & Andy: The Rivalry
What a way to start the 2017 season. World No. 1 Andy Murray and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic are facing off for the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title in Doha.
The Saturday evening final is the 36th time the two have met during their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. Djokovic leads the series 24-11, including a 19-8 record on hard courts, but he lost the last time they played – the ATP Finals title match in November. That match decided the year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking. No matter what happens on Saturday, though, Murray will stay No. 1.
Djokovic, the defending Doha champion, advanced to the final by delivering one of his career-best escape acts. The Serbian saved five match points against Fernando Verdasco in the semi-finals to win 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3.
Murray, the top seed and two-time champion in Doha (2008, ’09), dismissed third seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4 on Friday. The Scot hasn’t dropped a set all week.
Novak Djokovic withstood a comeback from Sir Andy Murray to defend his Qatar Open title and end the Briton’s winning streak of 28 consecutive ATP Tour matches.
Murray remains world number one despite the 6-3 5-7 6-4 defeat by the Serbian world number two.
The Scot saved three match points to come from a set and a break down to win the second set and level the match.
But Djokovic broke in game seven of the decider to win in two hours 54 minutes.
Both players now head to Melbourne for the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, which starts on 16 January.
“Its a tough one to lose,” said Murray, 29. “It was high level tennis, some of the points were physically tough. But it’s a great way to star the new year and I look forward to the next few weeks.”
This was the 36th meeting between the pair and Murray had won the last time they met at the ATP Tour Finals in November, a victory that kept him at world number one.
The Scot has never beaten the Serb after losing the first set and he was soon trailing as Djokovic broke in the eighth game following a string of unforced errors from Murray.
Djokovic broke again in the second set and served for the match at 5-3 but Murray fought back and reeled of four straight games to level.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion looked to be tiring in the third and was 0-30 on his own serve at 2-3 down but he fought back to hold and then broke Murray for the third time in the match as he won his second title in Doha.
“To win here, against the biggest rival, is a dream start,” said Djokovic, who was penalised a point in the second set for smashing his racket.
Djokovic is the defending champion in Melbourne, having won his sixth Australian Open title last year as he condemned Murray to a fifth defeat in the final of the tournament.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
The end of his winning streak will be less of a concern to Murray than the fact he was beaten by Djokovic – who appears to be nicely back on track.
The world number two played a phenomenal deciding set – showing great resilience after Murray had turned the second set on its head. The win is sure to give Djokovic renewed confidence as he heads to Melbourne as a six time Australian Open champion.
But Murray also looks to be in fine form: if they stay free of injury, these two look likely to dominate 2017 as well.
Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut will meet Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Chennai Open on Sunday.
Second seed Bautista Agut, 28, won 6-3 6-3 against France’s Benoit Paire, the man who beat British number four Aljaz Bedene in the quarter-finals in India.
Unseeded Medvedev, 20, reached the final with a 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 win over Dudi Sela of Israel in the last four.
Medvedev is 99th in the rankings, but will need to beat an opponent who is 14th in the world.
The top seed in the competition was Marin Cilic of Croatia, but he suffered a shock defeat against Josek Kovalik of Slovakia in the last 16.
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