Djokovic secures Dubai quarterfinal with win over Khachanov

Novak Djokovic is through to the Dubai Tennis Champions quarterfinal after defeating Karen Khachanov in straight sets 6-

Novak Djokovic stepped out today for his quarterfinal match against Karen Khachanov. The Serbian played a very solid match overall but it was far from clean. Djokovic is not in peak form but he is slowly making his way towards that while still comfortably beating very good tennis players. The first set was a very fast-paced set ending 6-3 in the favour of Djokovic in just 32 minutes.

Neither player was particularly interested in playing long rallies and both ended points rather quickly. Djokovic was majestic on his own serve dropping only 4 points with all of them coming on the 2nd serve. He was 100 % on his first serve. He won 5/7 points of Khachanov's 2nd serve and that proved enough for the one break and the 6-3 1st set finish.

Djokovic took an early lead in the 2nd set but Khachanov generally played a lot better. The Russian was finding more sucess on Djokovic's serve especially on his 2nd serve where he dominated. The Serbian was able to avoid losing his serve the first time Khachanov forced break points but eventually the Russian got the break back in another game.

Eventually we ended up in a tiebreak and naturally it was Djokovic who proved more focused and more composed in the tiebreak winning it rather easily 7-2. A good match for Djokovic who got tested a bit more today but he passed that test withouth many issues.