Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will contest their first-round matches in Dubai on Tuesday. They are going up against Vasek Pospisil and Gilles Muller, respectively.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Vasek Pospisil
Djokovic will be in action for the first time since winning the Australian Open when he takes the court on Tuesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. The world No. 1 is 9-1 this season with his one loss coming to Ivo Karlovic in the Doha quarterfinals. Djokovic is 18-1 in his last 19 matches (all on hard courts) since losing to Roger Federer last fall in Shanghai.
The top seed’s opening-rounder will come against Pospisil, whom he has defeated twice in two tries. Djokovic cruised 6-2, 6-0, 6-4 two years ago in a clay-court Davis Cup clash in Serbia before prevailing 6-3, 7-5 a few months ago in Beijing. Pospisil is a mediocre 5-4 for his 2015 campaign with a third-round showing Down Under and no first-round exits in four tournaments. That streak will almost certainly come to an end against a heavily-favored opponent who is 30-4 lifetime in Dubai.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing 8-10 games
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Gilles Muller vs. (3) Andy Murray
Murray and Muller will also be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Wednesday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Murray’s way; 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in a 2011 Davis Cup rubber in Great Britain and 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-0 one year later in Brisbane. Muller, however, is in resurgent form at 31 year old. The Luxembourgian reached a career-high ranking of No. 34 in the world last week and he is currently 35th. His 2015 record stands at 10-5 on the strength of a semifinal showing in Sydney, a fourth-round finish in Melbourne, and two additional quarterfinals.
Whereas Muller has played five events already this season, Murray has appeared in just two. The third-ranked Scot followed up his Aussie Open runner-up with an upset loss to Gilles Simon in the Rotterdam quarters earlier this month. He is without coach Amelie Mauresmo until Indian Wells and suggested after Rotterdam that Mauresmo’s absence had an impact. Regardless, Murray generally feasts on big servers thanks to his stellar return and Muller’s lefty spinner out wide will play into Murray’s strength–the backhand.
Pick: Murray in 2 losing 9 games or more
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I wish I could share you confidence that Murray will get it done in 2 but I think it will be at least 3, possibly an upset. Certainly if they are both in Rotterdam form it could be very tight
it’s going to be competitive. I just don’t see a big server beating Muzz. Muller is in form, but even so I don’t think he has enough dimensions to his game to get it all the way done.
Nice to see that I was wrong. He should be pretty comfortable against Sousa I think. Certainly straight sets
2 and 3
I’ll take the under on that pick Ricky. Nole in two losing 5-7.
I’ll take the over on your Muzza pick though. I’ll take Murray in three.
#DubaiYou???
I am going with Novak in two sets. I am just not sure if he’s going to lose 5-7 games or 8-10 games. I don’t see Novak having any problem in this match.
I will go with Murray in three sets.
good win for Andy over a dangerous opponent!