Dubai: Andrey Golubev, Michael Berrer, Marco Chiudinelli and Lukas Lacko all progressed to the main round of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open that gets under way at the Dubai Tennis Stadium from today.
Golubev made the main round for the second successive year with a 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 win over Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, while Berrer tussled with Japan's Tatsuma Ito in two tough sets for a 7-6, 7-6 victory.
Dubai regular Chiudinelli took time to adjust to fluctuating conditions before winning 7-5, 6-4 against Arnau Brugues-Davi of Spain, while Slovakia's Lacko eased his way past Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4.
"It was tough out there, but I am glad to be through to the main draw for a second time in Dubai," Golubev told Gulf News.
The Kazakh was irked by a questionable call from the chair umpire on a break point in the second set.
"After that I was nervous and took my time to adjust, first against the blowing conditions and sand and secondly to keep my cool on court," he said.
Results:
Qualifiers: Lukas Lacko bt Grega Zemlja 6-4, 6-4; Marco Chiudinelli bt Arnau Brugues-Davi 7-5, 6-4; Michael Berrer bt Tatsuma Ito 7-6, 7-6; Andrey Golubev bt Malek Jaziri 6-3, 0-6, 6-3.
Order of Play:
Centre Court (Start 2 pm) [Q] Andrey Golubev (KAZ) vs [WC] Marko Djokovic (SRB); (4 pm) [6] Mardy Fish (USA) vs Andreas Beck (GER). (7 pm) [1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER); [Q] Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs [WC] Sergei Bubka (UKR).
Court No.1 (Start at 3 pm) Michael Kohlmann (GER)/Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) vs James Cerretani (USA)/Ivan Ljubicic (CRO); Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs [3] Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/Marcin Matkowski (POL); Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs Lukas Rosol (CZE).
