Another opening round win is in the books for Novak Djokovic, who emerged victorious in straight sets against hapless Tommy Robredo at the Dubai Duty Free tennis Championships on Monday.
Djokovic was once again virtually flawless, having punched in six aces and winning 89 percent of his chances at points on first serve in the swift 6-1, 6-2 win over Robredo. Is there anybody than can stop The Serbinator at all?
With that question in mind, let’s find out what several of the web’s tennis experts have to say on who they picked to win the title in Dubai, or at least who can pose as a true challenger to Djokovic’s season-long rampage.
After this, head on over to our complete preview and sleeper picks features for the tournament to aid you further with your own smashing ATP Tour predictions.
Prominent tennis blog MooTennis.com simply broke down the progress of this week’s tournament in Dubai by listing down the names of participants that will advance through each round. The site ended its stage-by-stage predictions with Novak Djokovic coming out on top for his third title of 2016.
It’s really hard to bet against Djoker’s torrid pace right now. He remains undefeated for the year, with 11 of his 13 wins having been won in straight sets. Furthermore, the world’s best male tennis player has lost only 10 matches on the hard court dating back to the start of the 2014 season.
Tennis Atlantic
Steen Kirby of Tennis Atlantic sees Djokovic and Tomas Berdych meeting in the final round, with Djokovic still prevailing with the win as expected.
Berdych poses as one of Djoker’s largest threats in Dubai this week being as the seventh-best male tennis player in the world and as the third seed of the tournament. Then again, that’s not really saying much when you compare his head-to-head performance against Djokovic himself.
Berdych has an appalling record of 22-2 lifetime against Djokovic, has never won a match on the hard surface against him, and has not won over his Serbian rival since the 2013 season at the Rome Masters.
To add insult to injury, Djokovic just defeated the 30-year-old Czech in the semifinal round of the Qatar Open in straight sets at the beginning of this year. Looks like Berdych is in for another crushing defeat at the hands of his arch nemesis should he advance to the finals of the event in Dubai, alright.
The National (UAE)
Lastly, the two-man panel over at The National – a leading online news publication in the UAE – already succumbed to the fact that Djokovic will still end up with the Dubai title in hand this weekend. However, both Jon Turner and Ahmed Rizvi went out of their way to declare two different contenders that will likely give “Nole” a run for his money.
Similar to Tennis Atlantic’s Kirby from earlier, Turner sided with Tomas Berdych as the closest competitor to Djokovic’s throne. With Roger Federer not part of the action in Dubai, Turner noted that Berdych at least has one less “Big Four” member standing in his path towards his first title of 2016.
Strong plays behind his big serve and from the baseline have been the Czech’s bread-and-butter, but will that ultimately be enough to take down the cunning Djokovic in the final round?
Meanwhile, Rizvi went with World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, who entered the Dubai Tennis Championships as the second seed in the event. Rizvi highlighted that Wawrinka is the only man in the Dubai draw to have earned a victoy over Djokovic since the beginning of 2015, and that the 30-year-old Swiss even did it with a come-from-behind victory to steal the French Open title from his opponent at Roland Garros.
But in the end, Djokovic’s dominance over Wawrinka will still likely win out in the event that they face each other in the final round this week. The Serb has an equally stunning lifetime record of 22-4 against the Swiss, with only two of his losses coming on the hard surface – the latest being an upset in the semifinal round of the 2014 Australian Open.
Create a betting account now to bet for or against Djoker’s run in Dubai to net some sweet winnings from the ATP Tour yourself.
