DOHA, Jan 3: Novak Djokovic admitted he had to �fight� to come back from a set down to beat World No. 36, Hungary�s Marton Fucsovics at the Qatar Open.
The World No. 1 survived a huge scare to eventually triumph 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday and admitted his opponent was �very close to the win�.
�For the first two sets he was the better player,� said two-time Qatar Open champion Djokovic.
�He played really well, smart, changing up the rhythm and the pace of the ball and moving me around.
�I was kind of in a corner and I had to find my way and fight my way through.�
The match lasted exactly two hours, which was twice as long as the Serb spent on court in his first round stroll against Damir Dzumhur, where he lost just three games.
A backhand winner eventually secured victory for Djokovic but the result was in doubt for a long time, with the Serb only breaking Fucsovics in the tenth game of the second set to ensure the match went into a final set shootout.
Djokovic added: �I knew his qualities and especially in the slower conditions, so I did expect that it was going to be a match with a lot of rallies and very physical and that has proven to be the case.� The number one seed, will play fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarterfinals.
The Georgian beat Russia�s Andrey Rublev, the 2018 runner-up, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. � AFP
