Novak Djokovic vs. Lukasz Kubot (15:00 GMT)

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by Crunch Sports Staff

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Novak Djokovic (credit: Harold Cunningham/Getty Images)

Novak Djokovic takes on Lukasz Kubot this afternoon in the second round of the Swiss Indoors.

Djokovic wore a Halloween mask on entering the stadium for his first round clash against Xavier Malisse on Tuesday, but it was the top seed who was getting all the frights as Malisse pushed him all the way before going down 6-2 4-6 7-5.

The world No. 1 only had himself to blame as he lost concentration in the second set, and wasted the chance to serve out the match in the decider before eventually pulling through.

"I hoped that we would not get to the tie-break," he admitted afterwards.

"It’s really unpredictable in the third set tie-break who’s going to win. He made a couple of mistakes. I made some returns in. Overall, it wasn’t a great match for me.

"I played many, many better matches this year than this one, but under the circumstances, for me the most important thing now is that I feel good on the court physically."

Djokovic has a fine record in Basel, reaching the final for the past two years and he'll be hoping to keep that record this week. After the early exits of Tomas Berdych and Mardy Fish, the most dangerous players in his half, it's hard to see who can stop him squaring off against Roger Federer on Sunday for the third straight year.

It probably won't be Kubot. The Polish qualifier saved three match points as he hit back to beat Tobias Kamke 5-7 7-5 6-2, but Djokovic has won all four of their previous matches without dropping a set.

Prediction: Djokovic in two.

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