Novak Djokovic kicked off his 2016 campaign with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Dustin Brown in round one of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Monday. Djokovic earned five service breaks in eight return games to cruise in a mere 51 minutes.
The world No. 1 dropped his own serve late in the opening set but did not have any additional trouble. He lost only two service points in the entire second set before breaking his opponent at 5-2 to seal the deal. Brown double-faulted at both 30-all and 30-40 in the final game to end his chances.
“It’s been six weeks since I played the last match, so I was very excited to go back to the court and compete and see how I go,” said Djokovic, who capped off his dominant 2015 season with a title at the World Tour Finals. “Obviously you never know how you’re going to start from the blocks. You can do your best to prepare yourself well, which I did. I think I used the offseason very well to train to get my body in the right shape, and I think it was a very good start.”
This Doha event marked the only time throughout all of last year that the top-ranked Serb failed to reach a final. He lost to Ivo Karlovic in the quarters, as David Ferrer ultimately captured the title.
Djokovic-Brown highlights:
At the Brisbane International, meanwhile, Grigor Dimitrov showed signs of a resurgence by taking out fifth-seeded Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-6(10). Dimitrov missed five match-point opportunities in the second-set tiebreaker, but got another chance when Simon double-faulted at 10-10. The 28th-ranked Bulgarian finally took care of business on his next service point to advance.
Dimitrov awaits either Viktor Troicki or Steve Johnson and could face No. 1 seed and defending champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.
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dominance continues