Dubai draw: Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Gael Monfils find out first-round opponents

ATP Tour
Novak Djokovic meaning business

Four-time winner Novak Djokovic will play wildcard Malek Jaziri in the opening round of the Dubai Tennis Championships while second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has been given a tricky opener.

World No 1 Djokovic will be in action for the first time since beating Dominic Thiem in five sets to win the Australian Open for an eighth time and take his Grand Slam tally to 17.

He will face world No 259 Jaziri from Tunisia in what will be only their second-ever ATP Tour match with the Serb winning their other encounter in Dubai in 2016.

Djokovic could face seventh seed Karen Kachanov in the quarter-final while third seed Gael Monfils, who won the Rotterdam title last week, is also in the top half and the Frenchman will face Marton Fucsovics first up.

ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer in last year’s final, is the big name in the bottom half of the draw and the Greek will face world No 27 Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain in the first round.

Fourth seed Fabio Fognini also has a tough opener as he will take on British No 2 Dan Evans and the winner of that encounter could face sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the quarter-final.

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Novak Djokovic Stefanos Tsitsipas

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