17. 01. 2012. ·
No.1 seed Novak Djokovic failed in attempt to reach his first ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament final.
The sixth seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny stopped him like in 2007, this time in two tiebreakers 7-6(5), 7-6(6). The dramatic match lasted 2 hours and 16 minutes.
Novak’s errors in both tiebreakers were crucial. He saved three match points, but not the fourth.
After a break and a rebreak in the initial games of the first set, both players held til the tiebreaker. Youzhny made two mini-breaks for 4-1 lead, Nole fought back, but made a double fault that costed him the first set after 70 minutes.
Youzhny broke Djokovic’s service in the sixth game of the second set and the held for 5-2 lead. The 22-year-old Serb saved two match points in the ninth game, broke his opponent’s service and held to equalise the result to 5-5. The set was also decided in tiebreaker. Nole was leading 5-2, but Youzhny leveled the score and after Novak’s error won it 8-6.
This was their sixth match, their head-to heads is 3-3 now.
Djokovic will next play at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, the ATP World Tour 500 tournament that starts on February 22. Novak is the defending champion. He won 500 ATP points last year, defeating Spaniard David Ferrer in the finals (7-5, 6-3).
