Opening Dubai Championships win pushes Novak Djokovic one step closer to title No 50

In his first match since lifting a record fifth Australian Open, Djokovic swept past Pospisil as he aims to better Boris Becker's career title haul, writes Gary Meenaghan.

Novak Djokovic won in straight sets to start his Dubai campaign on Tuesday. Francois Nel / Getty Images

DUBAI // In his first match since lifting a record fifth Australian Open, Novak Djokovic beat Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday night to get his hunt for a fifth title at the Dubai Tennis Championships off to a comfortable start.

The world No 1, who beat Andy Murray at Melbourne Park last month to claim his eighth grand slam title win, would clinch a 50th career title should he again lift the silver dhow trophy on Saturday evening. His coach, Boris Becker, won 49 titles during a 15-year career.

“I didn’t have any special celebration for 40th or 30th, but I think as 50th is something unique, I’ll make it count,” said Djokovic, who faces a second round tie with Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev at the Aviation Club this evening. “It’s early to talk about the title as the tournament just started, but hopefully it can happen here.”

RELATED

When informed of Becker’s career haul, the Serb laughed and said: “I know, I received that information a few days ago. That’s why I have more motivation this week.”

Pospisil, ranked 63 in the world, reached a career-high 25 last year and beat world No 5 Tomas Berdych in Washington. Last night, his aggressive, accurate serve gave Djokovic problems and took the match to 4-4 in the first set. When his slice sailed too long in the ninth game though, Djokovic smelt blood.

The 24-year-old Canadian held on initially, but when he double faulted to gift Djokovic another chance, this time Pospisil was more obliging and Djokovic took an outright lead. Serving for the set, the Serb made no mistake.

“He served well first set; I just utilised my opportunities,” Djokovic said. “His second serve, when his first-serve percentage dropped, I knew that’s my chance. I won a lot of those second-serve points. That’s what decided the match.”

Pospisil ended the first set with one ace and an 84 per cent success rate off his first serve. His second serve only produced points for him 33 per cent of the time. Djokovic, in contrast, posted 75 per cent off his first and 73 per cent off his second.

The world No 1 broke early in the second set to take a 2-1 lead, but Pospisil immediately broke back to tie things at 2-2 and, having held serve, forced Djokovic to save two break points.

As the match drew on, though, the Serbian grew in stature while Pospisil’s forehands started to find the net more often. Djokovic broke again in the seventh and closed out the match strongly.

“First match since Australian Open final, so still looking for that rhythm on the court,” he said. “But I managed to stay mentally tough and patient in rallies. My serve wasn’t at the level where I wanted it to be today, so hopefully the next match can be better.”

Follow us at our new home on Twitter @NatSportUAE