Djokovic Strolls to Win in Dubai Opener
DUBAI (Dispatches) - Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, back in action for the first time in three weeks, didn’t get much of a test Monday in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
The tournament’s top seed routed Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-1, 6-2 in exactly one hour.
Djokovic put 70 percent of his first serves in play and never faced a break point. Jaziri faced eight break points and lost four of them.
In other opening-round action, Gael Monfils continued his winning streak. The third-seeded Frenchman, who won tournaments in Montpellier, France, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, earlier this month, topped Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 7-5.
Sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev and seventh-seeded Karen Khachanov, both of Russia, also posted straight-set victories.
Sixth-seeded Hugo Dellien of Bolivia held off Italy’s Marco Cecchinato for a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory in the first round at Santiago, Chile.
Dellien won 72 percent of his first-serve points despite serving just one ace. Cecchinati had 11 aces but offset those with seven double faults. He won just 60 percent of his first-serve points.
Also moving into the second round were two wild-card entrants, Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera and Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild, as well as Roberto Carballes Baena, who won an all-Spanish showdown with Jaume Munar.
And also, the five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova, one of the world’s most recognisable sportswomen, on Wednesday announced her retirement at the age of 32.
"Tennis — I’m saying goodbye,” Sharapova said in an article for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines.
"After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I’m ready to scale another mountain — to compete on a different type of terrain.”
Sharapova burst onto the scene as a supremely gifted teenager and won her Grand Slams before serving a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open.
The Russian former world number one’s ranking is currently 373rd.
The tournament’s top seed routed Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-1, 6-2 in exactly one hour.
Djokovic put 70 percent of his first serves in play and never faced a break point. Jaziri faced eight break points and lost four of them.
In other opening-round action, Gael Monfils continued his winning streak. The third-seeded Frenchman, who won tournaments in Montpellier, France, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, earlier this month, topped Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 7-5.
Sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev and seventh-seeded Karen Khachanov, both of Russia, also posted straight-set victories.
Sixth-seeded Hugo Dellien of Bolivia held off Italy’s Marco Cecchinato for a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory in the first round at Santiago, Chile.
Dellien won 72 percent of his first-serve points despite serving just one ace. Cecchinati had 11 aces but offset those with seven double faults. He won just 60 percent of his first-serve points.
Also moving into the second round were two wild-card entrants, Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera and Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild, as well as Roberto Carballes Baena, who won an all-Spanish showdown with Jaume Munar.
And also, the five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova, one of the world’s most recognisable sportswomen, on Wednesday announced her retirement at the age of 32.
"Tennis — I’m saying goodbye,” Sharapova said in an article for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines.
"After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I’m ready to scale another mountain — to compete on a different type of terrain.”
Sharapova burst onto the scene as a supremely gifted teenager and won her Grand Slams before serving a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open.
The Russian former world number one’s ranking is currently 373rd.