For the second successive day, Novak Djokovic was down a set as the centre court crowd anticipated an upset at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. But once again, the Serb, with his back against the wall, found the motivation to scrape out of trouble.
The Khalifa international Tennis and Squash Complex exploded in joy as the biggest draw of the tournament, World No. 1 Djokovic, eked out a comeback 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over spirited fifth-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Djokovic, bidding for his third Qatar Open title, will face seventh seed Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in tomorrow’s final. Bautista Agut had earlier knocked out three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 to enter the semi-finals.
“I thought Basilashvili was playing terrific from the beginning. I expected him to,” said a relieved Djokovic after the match. “I knew that he’s playing probably the tennis of his life in the past 10 months, and he’s definitely one of the greatest hitters in the game.”
As against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics on Wednesday, Djokovic was slow to get off the blocks. The Serb had predicted a tough match against in-form Basilashvili, a strong baseliner who gives the ball a mighty thwack and had who won his first two ATP Tour titles in 2018, both at ATP 500 events.
World No. 21 Basilashvili was the enforcer from the word go, breaking Djokovic in the very first game. The aggressive Georgian applied relentless pressure on the top seed for another break in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead. While Djokovic did pull a game back from Basilashvili’s serve, the Serb had no answer to the latter’s aggressive groundstrokes.
But Djokovic, as has been his wont, was never the one to give up easily. The 31-year-old showed why he is the owner of 14 Grand Slam titles, bouncing back in the second set.
He raced to a 3-0 lead, while Basilashvili threatened to regroup, Djokovic closed out the set to take the match into the decider.
In the third set, the two players traded breaks in the first two games. Astonishingly, Djokovic showed higher physical energy than his opponent, despite playing his fifth match of the tournament – after having entered the doubles semis with his younger brother Marko.
He also had the crowd rooting for him throughout, even as unforced errors crept into Basilashvili’s game. The all-important break for Djokovic came in the fifth game for a decisive 3-2 lead, as Basilashvili cracked under pressure. He then sealed the deal with three winners in the tenth game to come out on top of another slug fest, which lasted one hour and 56 minutes.
It was the sixth straight semi-final for the Serbian, who capped 2018 as the oldest year-end No. 1 in ATP history. Djokovic celebrated his surge orchestrating a whistling contest among fans.
Djokovic has now won 13 consecutive matches in Doha, and is 15-1 overall at the tournament. The World No. 1, owner of 72 tour-level titles, is attempting to lift a trophy for the 14th consecutive season. It is also the first time Djokovic has won back-to-back matches from a set down since Cincinnati in August last year, a tournament he went on to win
Earlier, Bautista Agut put on a consistent performance to knock out Wawrinka. The two know each other’s game well, having practised together for years. And Agut put that to good use yesterday.
The 24th ranked Bautista Agut played mostly from the baseline and controlled the match throughout. He broke Wawrinka in the very first game and never looked back to pocket the opening set. The second set too played out similar way as he sealed his win in one hour and 45 minutes.
“I think Stan is a really good player. He is really a tough opponent to beat and we knew each other very well and we used to practice a lot during the tournaments. Today I was very consistent and played with a lot of rhythm. I think I played a very complete match,” said the Spaniard, who lifted the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500-level tournament in Dubai.
In another quarter-final, wild card Tomas Berdych cruised past Frenchman Pierre-Hughes Herbert 6-2, 6-4. The Czech is playing his first tournament since June last year and showed some impressive form in Doha.
He was awaiting the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Italian Marco Cecchinato and Dusan Lajovic of Serbia, who were playing a late match last night.
Results
Singles (Quarter-finals)
1-Novak Djokovic (SRB) bt 5-Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
7-Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 6-4, 6-4
WC-Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt Pierre-Hughes Herbert (FRA) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles (Semi-final)
Robin Haase & Matwe Middelkoop (NED) bt Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) & Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 6-4, 6-1.
Top seed and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic exults after beating Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarter-finals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
