DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Top-ranked Novak Djokovic lost for the first time this season, falling to Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5 Friday in the semifinals of the Dubai Championships.
The victory ends Djokovic's 10-match winning streak, which includes the Australian Open title. It's a boost for the fourth-ranked Murray, who had a five-set loss to Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals.
Hopefully, that will set me up well for the year,'' Murray said.Confidence in tennis and almost any individual sport is so important.''
Murray had lost seven of the last 11 matches against Djokovic, who was bidding for a fourth straight Dubai title. But the 24-year-old from Scotland made it look easy at the Aviation Club.
I was fighting for it, but, you know, Andy played a great match,'' Djokovic said.He was the better player today. He was serving really well.''
Murray broke to go up 4-2 in the first set and saved two break points to make it 5-2. He used a stellar serve, winning 94 percent of his first service points in the first set and 85 percent overall.
The first set I served very well and was aggressive when I had my chances,'' Murray said.In the second set, he started going for more and making mistakes because it's tough to always grind out matches.''
Murray had a 3-0 advantage in the second set and led 5-3 while serving for the match. But Djokovic broke Murray for the first time and tied it at 5-all. Murray won the final two games, breaking Djokovic to win the match when the Serb sent a forehand long.
Murray said he felt his nearly 5-hour loss to Djokovic in Australia paid dividends Friday, especially in the second set.
``The thing you learn after a match like that is how much you need to sort of suffer on the court to win matches like that, and also how important it is,'' he said.
It wasn't just the Australian Open, but the match in Rome last year was brutal. It was over three hours and we finished really late in the evening,'' he said.They're tough matches to lose, but because you gave 110 percent and fight for every single point, it makes it more difficult for Novak.''
Djokovic paid tribute to Murray's aggressive play.
I made a lot of unforced errors when it was important,'' he said.But, look, this is sport. It's normal that in some matches you can't pull out your best when you need to.''
Djokovic denied that his four weeks off since winning the Australian Open - a time in which he collected several awards and went skiing with friends - influenced the outcome of the match. Still, the 24-year-old player appeared rusty in the early stages of the tournament, toiling to beat 72nd-ranked Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and 74th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky.
I thought I've been doing well since Wimbledon last year,'' he said.You know, I've been having a lot off-court activities since I became No. 1, but I have a team of people that controls it well.
``Obviously there is a lot of temptations and a lot of things that you can enjoy. But it's normal. You can't on one hand just be 100 percent of your life in the tennis. You are young. You have to enjoy life.''
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