Novak Djokovic hangs on to win against Tomas Machac in Dubai

Djokovic had a really tough time in round one against Machac as the Czech player played one hell of a match but it wasn't enough in the end 6-3 3-6 7-6(1).

Machac played really well because he didn't enter this match afraid. Facing Djokovic is very daunting but he played bravely and aggressively. Every short ball was attacked, and there was plenty of serve and volley as well. Djokovic won the first set thanks to some superb play from the baseline as well as a few errors by Machac.

Eventually, he did find a very good rhythm and we saw that in the second set. Djokovic was a bit too aggressive at times and quite a few of those balls sailed wide. He had 8 unforced errors more in the second set compared to the first while Machac reduced his. More than enough to win the set 6-3.

In the final one, we saw a proper battle. Both players had over 20 winners but Djokovic also had some aggressive serving. The Serbian had 5 double faults, quite unlike him. Machac did really well to pull back an early beak by Djokovic and he forced the tiebreak but ultimately he couldn't get it done in the tiebreak.