Dubai Open: Djokovic not thinking about Federer clash

Top seed braced for ‘tough’ rounds before meeting Swiss rival.


News Desk February 26, 2013
File photo of Novak Djokovic. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

Half of the draw for world number one Novak Djokovic at the Dubai Open appears to be relatively easy which includes Juan Martin del Potro, Andreas Seppi and Mikhail Youzhny as the highest seeds, according to Sport360.

On the other hand, defending champion Roger Federer’s draw seems more competitive with Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic playing.

Many are hoping for a Djokovic-Federer showdown in the final but the 25-year-old says he’s not looking past his opening round with Viktor Troicki.

“I haven’t looked at the draw at all,” said Djokovic. “They just told me I’m playing Viktor and I have no intention of looking how far I can go because this tournament is very strong and the field shows it.

“You have six top-10 players in this tournament and it’s only a 32 draw. You have to play every day from Tuesday on in order to win the tournament so I don’t look that far.”

Meanwhile, in yesterday’s matches, Del Potro survived a possible first-round upset as he beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

In another match, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko crushed Tipsaveric 6-0, 7-5 and advanced to the second round while Berdych progressed in the Championship with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over American Rajeev Ram.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Bernard Tomic was forced to retire in the first set of his opening-round match against Romania’s Victor Hanescu.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2013.

COMMENTS (1)

Jan | 11 years ago | Reply

I think federer will play djokovic in final. Federer will win the Final.

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ