Andy Murray showed the door to world No 1 Novak Djokovic at the semifinal of Dubai Open, beating the Serbian 6-2, 7-5. This is the second time in a row that Murray has outperformed his Serbian rival, and Murray has now raced into the final where he will be pitted against Roger Federer.
Murray and Djokovic played a beautiful match that seemed very close to the Australian Open standards. Both the players are known to be close friends. Soon after the game, the duo met in the interview room, and there was playful bantering between the two.
At the start of the match Djokovic looked confident and strong, and held his serve to take it to off 2-2. At this point, the game turned in Murray’s favour, with the Scot winning 7 straight games and the first set before going 3-0 in the second.
It looked easy for Murray to win the opening set, 6-2. Djokovic continued to look out of place allowing Murray to rise 5-3 in the second set. Murray let himself down with a few of his shots, allowing Djokovic to get back into the set at 5-5. Murray rose to the occasion and won his way to 7-5 win over Novak.
Djokovic addressed the post-match press conference with grace, admitting Andy Murray’s game had been excellent. Novak admitted making too many unforced errors at crucial points of the game.
In spite of being the undisputed world number 1, the game showed Murray as a stronger player than Novak. The match went against the online tennis betting markets, who had predicted a comfortable win for the Serb.