Dubai: Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri hailed his fighting spirit after a 6-4, 6-1 confidence-boosting win over Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free ATP Tennis Championships on Monday. It was his first win of the year after a run of six straight defeats.
The 32-year-old World No. 320’s serve was broken in the fourth game of the first set, but Jaziri immediately broke back in the fifth game before breaking again in the ninth to win the first set 6-4.
The Dubai tournament’s only Arab participant then broke Youzhny’s serve in the third, fifth and seventh games of the second set to win 6-1.
Jaziri billed the victory as a major confidence-boost for the rest of the year and hailed his fighting spirit against the Russian World No. 70 qualifier, who is a two-time former losing finalist here in Dubai and a veteran of 15 straight appearances in the emirate.
“This match was always very important for my confidence, my next step and for the rest of the year,” said Jaziri.
“It was a hard day and it was really very hot on court. In the beginning, it was very hard for me to even breathe. I arrived from the US just two days ago and woke up this morning very early, still jetlagged.
Asked to account for his poor form which saw him slumping to six defeats in a row, Jaziri replied: “Let’s just say it was a little bit of bad luck. I had maybe three match-points in different matches. I had command of those matches.
“I tried to fight and most importantly, when you keep fighting, it [victory] comes. You can do nothing [during this wait for victory] only fighting and waiting till it comes.”
Jaziri could face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round, should the Serbian win his late opener against Spain’s Tommy Robredo on Monday.
“It would be a good match,” said Jaziri. “I will try to enjoy on court and I will take my chances. He’s playing his best tennis now, and it’s true he’s beating everyone. But I will be on court like in all the matches. In tennis, you never know. That’s part of this beautiful game. Who knows? Maybe I’ll wake up on a good day.
Order of Play
(Tuesday)
Centre Court
Starts at 2pm
Roberto Bautista Agut v Simone Bolelli
Not before 4pm
Joao Sousa v Tomas Berdych
Not before 7pm
Sergiy Stakhovsky v Stan Wawrinka
Followed by
Martin Klizan v Nick Kyrgios
