Filip Krajinovic overcomes gallant challenge by Jaziri at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

DUBAI: Filip Krajinovic struggled to overcome a gallant Malek Jaziri in a thrilling first-round battle at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.

The Serbian, who like his Tunisian opponent had reached the semifinals in 2018, edged his way to a 6-7 6-2 6-4 victory in a highly entertaining two hours 18 minutes.

Although it was Krajinovic who made the better start by leading 3-0, Jaziri levelled at 3-3, saved a set point on his serve at 5-4 with an ace and then took the tiebreak 7-4. The second set saw Krajinovic go up a level as he dropped just four points on serve and broke to lead 2-1 and 5-2. The 38-year-old Jaziri remained strongly in contention in the third, before calling for treatment when leading 4-3.

At that stage Krajinovic was under severe pressure at deuce on his serve, but when play resumed he held for 4-4 and then won a decisive break to lead 5-4 before serving out the match.

Qualifier Jiri Vesely earned a surprise 6-4 7-6 victory over Marin Cilic to also reach the second round. Cilic, a former US Open champion and world number three, had recently claimed an impressive win over world number six Andrey Rublev to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open, while Vesely had failed to win a main draw match in his three previous visits to Dubai.

Cilic began by holding the first game of the match at love, but then saw his opponent win 15 of the next 17 points to hold three points to lead 4-1 before Cilic steadied and held serve again in the fifth game. Vesely went on to win the set, surrendering just five points on his serve, and then broke to lead 2-0 in the second.

Cilic eventually began to offer greater resistance midway through the set, holding a break point for 3-3, saving three break