Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Day 2: Sinner battles back from the brink

Day 2 of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships features 11 first-round matches as the rest of the field aims to join world No 1 Novak Djokovic and former champion Andy Murray in the second round.

Sinner battles back from the brink

Fourth seed Jannick Sinner was forced to save three match points on his way to victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Sinner progressed to the second round 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, but not before receiving a mighty scare as Davidovich Fokina had three chances to seal the victory in the second-set tiebreak. After riding out the storm, the Italian was more comfortable in the deciding third set, breaking for a 4-2 lead and remaining solid on serve to take the win.

Victory looked a distant possibility when Sinner was a set and a break down, having lost the opener after getting broken in the 10th game and trailing 4-2 in the second, but he rallied superbly to keep alive his Dubai title hopes and he will take on former world No 1 Andy Murray in the next round.

Khachanov to face Djokovic

Karen Khachanov will face world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after coming through a tough encounter against Australia's Alex De Minaur.

The Russian edged a marathon final game and a tense match to claim a 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 win on Court One. His reward is a showdown with Djokovic, against whom he has lost six of their seven meetings.

Khachanov took a comfortable first set by breaking De Minaur twice but the following two sets were much closer. The Australian appeared in control at 5-2 but Khachanov fought back with four games in a row to serve for the set. De Minaur broke back to level at 6-6, and the Australian raced away with a tiebreak 7-1.

After early break exchanges at 2-2, the rest of the deciding set stayed in serve, before Khachanov earned the crucial breakthrough in an epic 12th game, getting over the line on his second match point.

Karatsev title defence over

Aslan Karatsev's title defence ended in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday as the Russian was beaten in straight sets by Mackenzie McDonald in the first match on Centre Court.

Karatsev defeated McDonald last month in the second round of the Australian Open - where the Russian made his historic breakthrough in 2021 before going on to win the title in Dubai - and the American took his revenge by claiming a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

There was little to separate the two players in the first set, until Mackenzie earned the all-important break for a 6-5 lead and the world No 61 served out the opener with ease. Mackenzie built on his finish to the first set by racing into a 4-0 lead in the second, and while Karatsev was able to earn back one of the breaks to make it 4-3, the Russian was broken again while serving to stay in the match.

Mackenzie will face Serbia's Filip Krajinovic - a winner on Monday over Tunisian qualifier Malek Jaziri - in the second round on Wednesday.

"I'm pleased with how I battled today," McDonald said. "Got a little shaky toward the end of the second set but happy I got away with it in that last service game and closed it out with a break.

"[Aslan] is a super tough player, especially in these fast courts. Australia was fast too and he really took it to me and same thing here. I just had to be patient and see where I could press. I was lucky I got some errors from him today and I took advantage."

Former finalist Harris out

Last year's finalist Lloyd Harris was eliminated in the first round after going down 6-3, 6-3 to Slovakian lucky loser Alex Moclan.

Harris, who came through qualifying last year to reach the final where he lost to Karatsev, was unable to repeat his heroics on Tuesday. The South African world No 35 was below his best on serve, while Moclan gave nothing away on his own service games.

The Slovakian earned his first break in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead and that was all he needed to take the first set. Moclan then assumed control of the second set by breaking to move 2-1 ahead and the world No 69 closed out the victory with a second break in the ninth game.

Moclan awaits the winner of Polish fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz's match against Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik.