Novak Djokovic survived a big scare as he defeated Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-4 6-1 to record his 12th straight win in Doha.
The world number one barely had control of the match for two sets as he was made to work hard for his spot in the quarter-finals in Doha.
Eventually Djokovic maintained his composure to record a 12th straight win in Doha and win in 2 hours to ensure a place in the last eight of Doha.
As for Fucsovics he will miss out on a Australian Open seeding despite a very good match as Djokovic will play either Andrey Rublev or Nikoloz Basilashvili tomorrow.
The talented Hungarian started the match with great intensity as he showed his fearless game to the world number one and the man to beat on the ATP tour.
It was an incredibly frustrating first set for Djokovic who unbelievably couldn’t create a single break point in the opening set.
The Serb was being pummelled from all angles of the court and held his own for quite a bit of time. But his defences eventually failed him as Fucsovics broke in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead.
A comfortable hold from the Hungarian sealed a shocking opening set in 41 minutes. The second set was frustrating in a different way as he couldn’t create a break point from three Deuce games on his opponents serve.
It was clear the top seed wasn’t playing his best but the best players always find a way no matter how badly they are playing and just like the last time these two met, Djokovic found a way.
In the tenth game he created his first break points of the match and took his second to seal the set and force a decider.
The former Doha champion only got stronger and cruised to victory just dropping the one game as he edged out a very good Fucsovics.
After the match the world number one admitted that he was lucky to have won having not played his best tennis for two sets, “For the first two sets he was a better player,” he said in his on-court interview.
“He played really well, smart, changing up the rhythm and the pace of the ball and moving me around. I was kind of in a corner and I had to find my way and fight my way through.”
A concerning sign?
It is now the third tennis week in a row that Djokovic has played, if we include last season, and a concerning sign is that Fucsovics is the third player to take the match away from the Serb and have some kind of success.
The Hungarian varied the pace of his play and attacked the world number one, which limited Djokovic’s options. Therefore just like Khachanov in Paris and Zverev at the ATP Finals, Fucssovics had some success before losing comfortably.
Despite this recent pattern doing it in best of five slams remains a challenge and Djokovic will enter the Australian Open as joint favourite at worst along with Roger Federer.
As for this week Djokovic’s 12th Doha victory means he will face either Andrey Rublev or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
