World no.1 Novak Djokovic powered into the semi-final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The Serbian star advanced to the last four at the ATP 500 event with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday, extending his record in 2023 to a perfect 15-0.
Novak dominated on serve. He did not face a single break point during the one hour, 21-minute encounter.
The top seed converted two of his eight opportunities, breaking the fifth-seeded Pole once in each set to improve to a 5-0 lead in the pair’s career ATP H2H series.
“It was a challenging match as it always is against Hubert,” Djokovic said. “I think he’s got one of the best serves in the game, so in the second set until that 11th game, I didn’t really have too many chances against his serve. He was winning his service games comfortably. Fortunately for me, I also found the rhythm on my serve throughout the second set and held my serve. Love-30 at 5-4 for him, I found a couple of good serves, good plays. Really one or two points can always decide the winner of matches like this. There’s not much that was separating us. But I’m really, really glad with the way I played under pressure.”
Match statistics: aces (7-4), double faults (2-1), winners (20-21), unforced errors (7-15), total points won (61-51).
Novak will play against Daniil Medvedev (H2H 9-4) in Friday’s blockbuster semi-final (16:00 CET), looking to reach his seventh championship match.
The third seed from Russia outclassed Borna Coric (CRO, 8) in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
Photo: Profimedia
