Novak made it to the Round 1 of Dubai in the manner of an experienced player, he won the Round 1 match in 1 hour 18 minutes against Marin Cilic, former Junior #2, now World #45 in the ATP Rankings.
In 1st set, decisive was the fifth game where Novak made a break without giving away a single point to his opponent. In 2nd set, 19-year old Marin lost serve games on two occasions, enough for Novak's 6:3 win. In contrast to Marin, Novak ruled the court when on serve, giving away only 1 point per serve game (38/51).
Novak will now play against French veteran Fabrice Santoro who accomplished good result in Round 1 by beating Mikhail Youzhny with 2:0 in sets (6:4 6:3). Novak played one match against Fabrice who is current World #47, it was in the Paris Masters in 2007 when Fabrice won.
Rafael Nadal also won in Round 1 (against Philip Kohlschriber, 3:6 6:1 6:4) and is looking for eventual Dubai title to overthrow Roger Federer from World #1 position. Novak and Rafael can not meet before the Final, we hope they will meet there then.
