VIDEO: Machac earned the applause of Djokovic after his dream shot, but lost to him after a long fight

The second day of play at the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai brought the return of the world number one. Novak Djokovic wanted to build on his successful start to the season in his match against Tomas Machac. The Serbian finally managed to win 6::3, 3::6 and 7::6 after two and a half long hours, but he had to applaud what his opponent from the Czech Republic was doing.

The native of Beroun made it through the two-round qualification to the main event. The 100th ranked player first defeated the Hungarian Fucsovics (79th) and allowed only one game to the Italian Arnaldi (111th). The fate, however, was unforgiving to him, Machac for the first time in his career was facing a match against the world number one player.

From the very first ball it was clear that Machac wanted to present an aggressive, varied game. Although a few mistakes were made early on and Djokovic took the first set 6:3, the qualifier took everyone by surprise at the start of the second set.

Within moments he took a 3: 0 lead and even had two chances to pull away even more. The Serbian tennis player started to spoil more often, which was documented by thirteen unforced errors in the second set. Tomas Machac deservedly evened the match after the result 6::3.

The 22-year-old tennis player still tried to play as aggressively as possible, which was the only chance to beat Djokovic. However, the favourite went into a quick lead in the final set after Machac failed to play a game on serve.

The Czech lion kept fighting and didn’t want to give his skin for free. The score came 4:2 on Djokovic’s serve. The seventh game of the deciding set brought probably the best tennis of the whole match.

The Sparta Prague tribal player continued his risky approach, let the volley from dreamland be his reward. Machac reached his opponent’s forehand, then sent the ball just centimeters over the tape with plenty of back spin. Applause followed, not only from the fans, but also from Novak Djokovic.

Machac himself made a clear gesture that he himself did not believe what he had just managed to play.

The Czech managed to win the seventh game and level the match. In the end, the quality and experience of the twenty-one-time Grand Slam winner showed through. Djokovic handled the ending well and after a fight won 6::3, 3::6 and 7::6, and Tallon Griekspoor awaits him in the next round.

Source: TennisTV