Nadal, Djokovic, Roddick Advance to Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships Second Round

Dubai, UAE, March 4th, 2008: The strength of the field at the Barclay’s Dubai Tennis Championships threatened to cost the tournament their second top seed in two days as Spaniard Rafael Nadal struggled to overcome Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber on Tuesday.

The number two seed eventually came through 3-6 6-1 6-4, but it took him two hours 22-minutes. He appeared to be in real danger of following Roger Federer out as he surrendered five straight games after taking a 2-0 lead at the beginning of the match.

Kohlschreiber, at a career high 27 after winning in Auckland and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, troubled Nadal by stretching him wide and serving well. And after taking the first set he kept up the pressure in the second, holding two break points in the first game.

But Nadal held him off, broke for 2-0 and survived another break point in the third game to hold for 3-0. After another break left him serving for the match, Nadal held four break point opportunities on Kohlschreiber at the start of the third.

Nadal eventually broke for 3-2, and although the German broke straight back Nadal was able to break him again to lead 4-3. That was enough to secure victory.

“It was a tough match,” said Nadal. “I didn’t play my best, that’s true, but it’s not easy playing here. Every player is a big player, one of the toughest draws on the tour for sure.

“I was coming without my best confidence because I had a strange loss in Rotterdam. It’s important coming back, winning a match like this. Starting the match 2-0, then losing the first set and five games in a row, so after (that) I was 100 percent mentally.

"Maybe I didn’t play the best tennis, but mentally I was very positive and fighting for every point.”

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic had no such problems against Croatia’s Marin Cilic, winning 6-4 6-3 without facing a break point. The third seeded Serb was lightning fast both in his reflexes and speed around the court, and that helped him to break serve to love for a 3-2 lead in the first set. A netted forehand gave him a break for 2-1 in the second, and Djokovic broke again in the final game, claiming victory on his third match point.

“I was pretty satisfied with most of my strokes today,” said Djokovic. “I was trying to be patient and make him do a lot of unforced errors and just wait for my chance. I was happy with my serve and in the important moments I was more stable, I was more patient. I didn’t face a break point in the whole match, so that’s a positive fact for me.”

American Andy Roddick celebrated his Dubai debut with a 6-2 6-4 win over former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Czech number eight seed Tomas Berdych also advanced to the second round, defeating Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4. Monfils was playing his first match since September after suffering knee, wrist and ankle injuries. Among other victories, Feliciano Lopez overcame Janko Tipsarevic 6-3 4-6 6-4, Olivier Rochus defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-2, Paul-Henri Mathieu beat Joseph Sirianni 6-4 6-4, and Mikhail Ledovskikh defeated UAE’s Mahmoud Nader 6-1 6-1.