Djokovic books Dubai final place

Novak Djokovic saved three match points to maintain both his unbeaten start to the season and his perfect record against Gael Monfils in the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships yesterday.

Djokovic, who has not lost a singles match since the ATP Finals in London in November, had beaten Monfils in all 16 of their previous professional meetings dating back to 2005.

It looked like that record would come to an end when Monfils took advantage of an unusually-lacklustre display from Djokovic to ease through the first set and then led 6-3 in the second-set tie-break after saving a succession of set points.

But Frenchman Monfils, who had been looking for a third straight ATP Tour title, was unable to take any of them and eventually double-faulted on set point for Djokovic before wilting physically in the decider.

Djokovic was able to celebrate a 2-6 7-6 (8) 6-1 victory, setting up a final date with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas had earlier booked his spot in the final for a second straight year with a 6-2 6-3 victory over surprise semi-finalist Dan Evans.

The Greek, who successfully defended the title in Marseille last weekend, lost to Roger Federer 12 months ago.

Heather Watson meanwhile toiled to a 6-3 1-6 6-1 victory to book her place in the last four of the Mexican Open.

The Briton took on world No 86 Christina McHale for a chance to play Xiyu Wang and looked comfortable as she wrapped up the opening set inside 39 minutes.

A pair of breaks for the American saw Watson on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline in the second set with McHale converting her first set point to force a decider.

However Watson proved too good in the third, breaking for 3-1 and 5-1 before serving out the match.

Kyle Edmund lost his quarter-final clash with American Taylor Fritz in straight sets 6-4 6-3.

Fritz recorded 11 aces during the tie, with a break at 5-4 seeing the Briton lose the first set and two consecutive dropped service games in the second proving costly.

World No 1 one Ashleigh Barty completed the Qatar Open semi-final line-up, with a hard-fought victory over two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza.

The Australian lost the second set on a tie-break, but won her last eight clash 6-1 6-7 (4) 6-2 in Doha.

Up next for Barty, after her one hour and 51 minute encounter, is a match with 29-year-old Petra Kvitova.

Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon winner, held her nerve against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur to win 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4).