Djokovic fights back to reach final

On a windy and chilly day defending champion Novak Djokovic saved five match points to beat Fernando Verdasco to reach the Qatar Exxonmobil Open final at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex yesterday.
The world number 42 from Spain was on the verge of winning in the second-set tie break but Djokovic managed to save himself.
The Serb prevailed 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 after the left-handed Verdasco, a former top-10 player, controlled the first two sets but flattered in the latter stages of the tiebreaker.
Of the five match points Verdasco held in the second-set tiebreaker, four evaporated on his own mistakes, with the Spaniard evidently frustrated with his own errors.
After winning the first set, Verdasco allowed the chance to slip from his grasp in the second set.
The world number two then fought through to take the third and the match.
"I can't describe (the second set) in one word - I'd like to say tough luck to Fernando, he was clearly the better player for a big part of this match. He had some big court forehands; he should have finished it off and he didn't.
"The conditions again were definitely not great...we struggled with consistency. It was definitely one of the most exciting matches I've played - I don't think I've saved five match points in my life too many times."
The second-seeded Djokovic, who didn’t lose a set en route to the semifinals, broke Verdasco’s serve in the third game of the third set to finally establish what turned into a permanent lead in the 2-hour, 22-minute match.
Djokovic, who only had one unforced error in the final set, sealed the match by breaking Verdasco’s serve in the final game. Verdasco initially trailed 4-2 in the first set, then broke Djokovic at love in the seventh and ninth games to take the set.
Verdasco last played Djokovic in the second round of last year’s Qatar Open, where the Spaniard’s loss was his 11th consecutive against a world No. 1 player. Djokovic leads their head-to-head 9-4.
After the match, Verdasco said: “It's tough to lose against someone so important like Novak having the match so close."
“Honestly, thinking about the break points. I think that it just didn't come my way. It's just that sometimes doesn't happen. It's tough of course because then you lose that set and everything is very tough mentally,” said the Spaniard.
After the losing the second set, Verdasco said it was a difficult task for him to bounce back.
“It's not easy to be on top of the game again. So of course I'm sad more than disappointed because I think that I tried everything. I played good the whole week. I gave all from my side to try to make the best tournament here as possible in Doha,” he added.
Verdasco said that he knew Djokovic's game has they had played against each other earlier, several times.  
"It's a little bit tougher when you play against a player that's maybe new on the tour and you don't know him that well and you never play him. That's the ones that you really have to look at videos to see how he plays."
"But about these players, for example like Novak or Karlovic yesterday or like Goffin the day before, we played each other many times. We know each other. I'm sure that they know me also very well, so we know what to do against each other."
Verdsasco said he was happy with the good start to the new season.
“It was a great week to start the year. I beat two top 20s, and I had No. 1 -- No. 2 in the world right now, but No. 1 almost for the last four years -- just one point away and four, five times -- I had five match points. I think that I played a really good tennis this whole week.”
“Of course right now I'm sad. At the end you don't want to lose like that against anyone, no matter the number of his ranking and no matter the name he has. You just go out there and give your best and try to win against anybody. When you have five match points, it's hard to lose after how well I played and how close I was. So that's pretty normal."
“Of course for another side, I'm happy of the way I played, how I start the year, and hopefully it's going to help me to make a good year this 2017 in my career, make good tournaments.”