Novak Djokovic battles past Basilashvili to face Bautista Agut in Qatar Open semis
Novak Djokovic
Top-seed Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic on Thursday had to sweat more than expected to defeat Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, booking a place in the semifinal of the Qatar Open, a tuning-up event for the Australian Open.
For the second time in a row, Djokovic, a two-time Qatar Open champion, found himself trailing by a set, but his timely reaction kept his bid for his 73rd ATP title alive.
"I thought Basilashvili was playing terrific from the beginning. I expected him to. I knew that he's playing probably the tennis of his life in the past 10 months, and he's definitely one of the greatest hitters in the game," Djokovic said after the nearly two-hour game.
Basilashvili gave a glance of the tennis that led him to win his maiden ATP title in 2018 as he grabbed a 4-1 lead and went on to clinch the set a few games later, despite conceding his delivery once.
The second set was a new start for the Serbian 14-time Grand Slam champion as he turned up the heat by breaking his opponent's first serve and managing to maintain the lead until the end of the set, although he had to save a break point while serving for the set.
It seemed like Basilashvili crumbled under pressure in a third seesaw set in which both players swapped service breaks at the beginning, but then Djokovic outpaced his opponent with a break in the fifth game that proved to be decisive.
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Djokovic is scheduled to take on Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the seventh seed, who saw off Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 earlier in the day.