Djokovic advances at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships as Murray denied 700th career win

DUBAI: Novak Djokovic held off a gallant challenge from Karen Khachanov in front of a capacity crowd on Wednesday to win 6-3 7-6 and reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner denied Andy Murray his 700th career victory when he defeated the former world No. 1 with a 7-5 6-2 result, and second seed Andrey Rublev also advanced to the quarter-finals, but he was challenged well by Soonwoo Kwon before winning 4-6 6-0 6-3.

It appeared as if Djokovic would enjoy a comfortable evening against Khachanov as he took the first set in just 32 minutes. But he achieved that with just one break of serve at 2-1, and the second set was a struggle for the world No. 1 and it took him a further 66 minutes to bring the match to a conclusion.

Although Djokovic broke in the second set to lead 2-1, he then had to fight off three break points to hold the next game and, as Khachanov grew in confidence, he broke Djokovic to level at 4-4. Djokovic then failed to convert two break points to lead 5-4, before claiming the tiebreak 7-2.

“He started playing better in the second set, hitting the spots with the serve well. I kind of backed up a bit. Things changed. We were going toe-to-toe,” Djokovic said.

“I think in the 12th game on the second set when I was serving to stay in the set and take it to a tiebreak, I found the rhythm for the serve. I had really quick, smooth service game, and it continued onwards in the tiebreak, two great returns on 5-2 up to finish up the match. Yeah, best possible tiebreak that I could play. It was a fantastic test. I really enjoyed the atmosphere as well tonight on the court.”

“It was with great pleasure that we saw so many excited fans enjoying the exquisite