By Richard Pagliaro | Friday January 6, 2017
The packed Qatar crowd was erupting, the breeze was biting and Novak Djokovic was reeling facing five match points.
Staring down a 2-6 tie break deficit, Djokovic did not blink.
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The defiant defending champion fought off five match points, winning seven of the last eight points in the breaker igniting a pulsating 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 comeback victory over Fernando Verdasco to reach the Doha final.
On a night where his best tennis eluded him early, Djokovic staged a spirited fight-back prevailing in a two hour, 22-minute thriller.
“Definitely one of the most exciting matches I’ve played,” Djokovic told the appreciative crowd afterward. “I don’t think I’ve saved five match points too many times in my life.”
It was the first time Djokovic saved five match points since defeating Andy Murray in the 2012 Shanghai Rolex Masters final.
The world’s top two will collide in the final fighting for the golden falcon trophy.
The top-ranked Murray dismissed third-seeded Tomas Berdych, 6-3, 6-4, to reach a record fourth Doha final.
Murray extended his winning streak to 28 matches, which includes a 6-3, 6-4 win over Djokovic in the ATP World Tour Finals that clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking.
A year ago, Djokovic swept Verdasco, 6-2, 6-2, in the Doha round of 16.
In the rematch, the 42nd-ranked Spaniard was the aggressor and better player for much of the opening two sets.
The veteran Verdasco’s second serve and two-handed backhand can sometimes be vulnerable under stress, but he drove his two-hander with depth and served with conviction for much of the first two sets.
Hooking his lefty topspin forehand into Djokovic’s normally rock-solid backhand, Verdasco drew some errors of that wing to put himself on the verge of victory in the breaker.
On this night, Djokovic delivered the flurry and incited the sound.
The second-ranked Serbian dug in and defended brilliantly in a heart-racing 31-shot rally on match point number three. Transitioning from defense to offense, Djokovic zapped a forehand to close to 5-6. A wide serve set up a backhand winner crosscourt to deny the fourth match point.
On his fifth match point, Verdasco’s grunt was bigger than his ambition as he didn’t really attack an inside-out forehand. That miss leveled the breaker at 7-7.
When Djokovic coaxed an errant forehand to complete his great escape, he celebrated cupping his hand near his ear than waving his arms exhorting the crowd to make some more noise.
“I can’t describe it with one word,” Djokovic said. “I would like to say tough luck for Fernando. He was clearly a better player for a big part of the match. And he should have won that match. I can’t say I did things the right way on those match points. He had some mid-court forehands he could have finished it off, but he didn’t. I just hung in there.”
It was a test of unruly conditions and sudden momentum shifts.
From 2-4 down, Verdasco streaked through six straight games, including successive love breaks, snatching the 43-minute opener on his third set point.
Verdasco snapped Djokovic’s streak of 16 consecutive sets in Doha. The world No. 2 won just four of 12 points played on his second serve in the opening set.
Trying to halt his slide, Djokovic hit himself into a deeper hole.
Ballooning a backhand beyond the baseline, the 29-year-old Serbian surrendered serve for the third straight time to open the second set. When Verdasco backed up the break with conviction for his sixth straight game, he seemed to be in total control up 6-4, 2-0.
Stepping up to the baseline, Djokovic began driving the ball into the corners. Jerking the Spaniard side-to-side, he moved forward and blocked a forehand volley winner down the line breaking back for 2-all.
Deadlocked at 4-all, Djokovic showed stubborn resolve saving three break pints. On the third break point, Verdasco, whose forehand was a damaging weapon up to that point, floated rather than fired a forehand as Djokovic navigated a critical hold for 5-4.
After withstanding that 11-minute struggle to hold, Djokovic breezed through a love hold for 6-5.
On his first match point Verdasco found the net then shanked a forehand on the second. Winning an electric 31-shot rally on match point number three energized both Djokovic and the crowd.
Sensing his moment had slipped after dropping the second set, Verdasco looked disconsolate during the third.
Adjusting quickly to a net cord, Djokovic knifed a two-handed down the line for double break point. Festering frustration over the five match points erupted as Verdasco bounced his racquet off the court. When Verdasco netted a forehand, Djokovic had the break and a 3-2 lead in the final set.
Playing cleaner tennis in the decider, Djokovic completed a riveting comeback committing just one of his 28 errors in the closing set.
Our Take
Amid windy conditions, consistency eluded Djokovic at the start. Concentration, a spirited commitment to the cause and his ability to stare down match point stress helped Djokovic salvage a match that seemed out of reach. Unlike some of his shirt-tearing, racquet-tossing reactions last fall, Djokovic kept calm and played a near immaculate final set.
Grinding through a challenging match can only strengthen the reigning champion's confidence and resolve ahead of launching his Australian Open title defense this month.