Czech player Jiri Vesely met Novak Djokovic for the second time in his career to play the quarterfinals at the ATP 500 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday.
The 28-year-old shocked the world number one, prevailing in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(4) after one hour and 57 minutes.
In his on-court interview, the Czech qualifier stressed: “It is an amazing feeling. I never really thought I would have a chance against Novak. He is one of the greatest of all time. After the past 12 months, it is unbelievable. I have so many emotions inside. It is hard to describe. It is an amazing feeling.”
Moreover, Vesely’s triumph ended the Serbian’s reign as the world’s top tennis player, a spot that from Monday, and for the first time since 2020, will belong to Russian Daniil Medvedev, the 27th player to ever reach the highest place in the ATP Rankings.
Questioned about having a new player in the top spot of the sport, he commented: “It is great for tennis to have someone new at World No. 1. Novak is such a champion; he has been No. 1 for 361 weeks, but tennis needs new World No. 1s, and there is a new generation coming up, and I think it is great.”
The two-time ATP titlist advances to the event’s semifinals for the first time in Dubai. Coming from qualifying, he moved past Lebanese Hady Habib and Australian Alexei Popyrin.
Furthermore, he toppled World No. 24 Marin Cilic in his first-round match 6-4, 7-6(3), to then beat 2022 Qatar ExxonMobil Open champion Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4, before facing Djokovic, making his first appearance on Tour this season, after the controversial episode in Australia.
Speaking about competing against Dubai’s five-time champion for the second time, Vesely outlined: “Playing against Novak, he is such a great groundstroke player. He moves really well. You really have to earn it and fight for every single point.”
Adding: “I think I did an amazing job today. I tried to keep the rallies short. Of course, Novak had huge support. I love these matches playing against the best players in the world. Having full stadiums is something I have dreamt about my whole life.”
Their first tour-level meeting took place at the ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in 2016, with the Czech also emerging victorious.
Vesely made a quick start to the opener, producing an early break over his adversary, following to hold his serve, to open a 2-0 advantage over the 34-year-old, struggling with the accuracy of his shots.
Nevertheless, the top seed managed to take the lead at 3-2, though he would fail to capitalize on his chances, which allowed the Pribran native to produce a double break at 4-3.
And from there, he would move on to seal the set 6-4 in 47 minutes, converting two of the five breakpoints opportunities he faced.
Djokovic regrouped into the second set, improving his game to raise his level.
However, the World No. 123 recovered, serving extremely well, and within 32 minutes, he was a set and a break up on the Serbian, who would fight back, breaking the unseeded player when serving for the match. The parity was such that it unfolded into a tiebreak which the former won 7-4.
“Unfortunately, [today] wasn’t my day. I congratulate Jiri; he played better, just went for his shots. His serve was big. His whole game was big. When he needed to come up with the good shots, he did, putting a lot of pressure also on my service games,” said Djokovic.
“I was keeping my fighting spirit there. I really tried till the last shot. I managed to break his serve when he was serving for the match. Just kept it going, really pushed him to the last shot.”
All in all, the Belgrade native hit 33 winners, recording 16 unforced errors, winning 74 percent of his first-service points and 42 with his second.
For his part, Vesely fired 32 winners, committing 15 unforced errors while converting three out of eight breakpoint opportunities he faced in the match.
In addition, he won 69 percent of his first-service points and 56 with his second.
Next, Vesely will face sixth seed Denis Shapovalov, who overcame Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 7-6(4), 6-3. Both players have never played one another before.
The other semifinal will feature Open 13 champion Andrey Rublev against fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz, the man who put out Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.
The Pole leads second seed Rublev 2-0 in his Head 2 Head series; their latest encounter happened at the ATP Masters 1000 Miami in 2021, when Hurkacz, the eventual champion, outlasted the 9-time ATP titlist in the semifinals 6-3, 6-4.
Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, stated: “We congratulate Jiri Vesely on his fantastic victory, which kept us on the edge of our seats throughout what was a thrilling contest from beginning to end.”
“We also congratulate our other semifinalists and look forward with great anticipation to see which one of them will go on to win the title on Saturday.”