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ATP Dubai: Tuesday Order of Play, Djokovic returns

By Geoff Nichols

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ATP Dubai: Tuesday Order of Play, Djokovic returns

The order of play for Tuesday at the ATP Dubai 500 event sees a number of the favourites commence their hunt for the title. After our preview and predictions at the start of the week, the likes of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Thomas Berdych are set to begin their campaigns, all of whom we have tipped to do well at the popular event.

The main tournament began on Monday, with a helping of first round to ease into a great week of tennis ahead. Roger Federer eased through in under an hour against the experienced Mikhail Youzhny, quickly shaking of some initial rust and putting in a performance that he will hope sets the tone for the remainder of the week.

The majority of the main contenders to Federer defending his Dubai title begin on Tuesday and below we look through what the rest of round one has in store:

Tuesday 24th Schedule

Centre Court

Start 2:00 pm (local time)

[4] Tomas Berdych (CZE) v Jeremy Chardy (FRA)

Not Before 4:00 pm

Gilles Muller (LUX) v [3] Andy Murray (GBR)

Not Before 7:00 pm

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) v Vasek Pospisil (CAN)

Fernando Verdasco (ESP) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)

Centre 1

Start 2:00 pm

Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) v Lukas Rosol (CZE)

[Q] James Ward (GBR) v [6] Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Centre 2

Start 2:00 pm

[Q] Marsel Ilhan (TUR) v [WC] Alexander Zverev (GER)

[LL] Borna Coric (CRO) v Malek Jaziri (TUN)

Centre 3

Start 2:00 pm

Simone Bolelli (ITA) v [Q] Lucas Pouille (FRA)

[7] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) v Dominic Thiem (AUT)

[8] David Goffin (BEL) v [WC] Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)

Game of the Day – Djokovic v Pospisil

Considering it is only the first round of a 500 event, Tuesday at the ATP Dubai tournament looks to be an absolute cracker, with a number of matches to keep your eye on. Notable mentions go to Murray against Muller, with an upset not beyond the realms of possibility with how well Muller’s lefty serve has been firing at the start of 2015.

Thomas Berdych, first on centre court in the afternoon could still be playing in warm conditions and Jeremy Chardy is a player capable of producing some strong performances. However, the encounter between top seed Djokovic and rising Canadian star Pospisil is our pick of Tuesday’s order of play.

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We haven’t seen Djokovic in competitive action since he won the Australian Open, with fitness problems framing the victory in an odd way. He will be looking to get back down to business in Dubai and kick on from his thus far perfect start to the season. He has a 2-0 head-to-head record against the Canadian world number 63 and should be confident.

Pospisil certainly does not lack talent, however, as he managed to test Murray is Rotterdam a couple of weeks ago. It took a while for him to settle into his game plan in that match and arguably that cost him the match, as his slow start made it difficult to comeback. If he can have a more concrete vision of how to hurt Djokovic, this could be a opening test for the Serb.

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