Roger Federer earned a chance at regaining one of his titles and an early revenge upon Novak Djokovic by reaching the final of the Dubai Open on Friday.
Federer, without a Grand Slam title for the first time in eight years, overcame Richard Gasquet, the gifted Frenchman who once beat him as a teenager, by 6-2, 7-5 to earn a second meeting with Djokovic inside four weeks.
It was the Serbian who beat the Swiss maestro last month in Melbourne, Australia, before making off with his Australian Open title, and it is Djokovic who holds the title here as well.
Photo: EPA
“It’s a huge obstacle to play Novak,” said Federer, who may nevertheless have been encouraged by Djokovic’s struggles in getting past Tomas Berdych, the man who beat him at Wimbledon, but who retired with a thigh injury in the final set.
Djokovic, playing in hot temperatures, described his own performance as a “catastrophe,” even though there was no doubting his desire and determination as he survived by a scoreline of 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 4-2, 30-love retired.
Federer by contrast played in the cool of the evening, when the air was thicker and the ball less fiery, which probably helped the top-seeded former champion to produce moments of beautifully controlled magic. Federer also had an extra gear, which became evident only when Gasquet’s level rose in the second set, thanks to fewer unforced errors and improved rhythm with some flamboyant ground strokes.
They helped the former world No. 7 to take a 5-3 lead, but they also goaded Federer into a trampling performance in the next four games, during which he allowed Gasquet only four more points.
He then celebrated victory with a well-practiced wave and a half-smile that suggested his mind might already be on what was still to come. The crowd was disappointed for many of them thought Gasquet could take it to a decider, but those were not entirely the Frenchman’s sentiments.
“I arrived with no practice, and with a shoulder injury, so I’m playing better and better,” he said.
Djokovic by contrast described his performance as “the worst of the year,” adding that he thought he “was just fortunate to go through.”
He had problems with his footwork, labored throughout the first set, and his ground strokes, particularly on the backhand side let him down far more often than usual.
However, the Serb’s desire to win and his serve did not. Nor did the intensity of his support from a gaggle of noisy expatriates. Once they started cheering before Berdych had completed an attempt to run the ball down, causing the Czech to complain and prompting the umpire to tell them “please don’t shout.”
Djokovic needed all this passion to prevent Berdych breaking back at 15-40 in the fifth game of the second set and this escape by the champion probably quashed the the third-seed’s last real hopes. Asked to compare yesterday’s scenario with the semi-final at the Australian Open, Djokovic said the conditions would be very different.
“In Australia [it was] really slow conditions, slow surface, ball bounces a bit higher. So it was more suitable to me,” Djokovic said. “Still, I’ve played well over the years in this center court, especially in night matches. So I look forward to it. It will be a big challenge.”
Federer, clearly in the better form, sounded the more assertive.
“I’m confident I’m playing well,” he said. “I haven’t played poorly the last six months.”
“I have another opportunity to win a tournament, so it’s a good moment for me. I want to win, it doesn’t matter how,” Djokovic said. “As long as it’s fair play and as long as Novak is at a hundred percent as well — I don’t want to beat him at eighty percent. I just want to beat him fair and square.”
DELRAY BEACH
AFP, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro defeated fifth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson in straight sets on Friday to reach his third straight ATP semi-final on Friday.
Argentina’s Del Potro dispatched Anderson 6-4, 6-4 to book a clash with second-seeded American Mardy Fish in the semi-finals of the US$442,500 ATP Delray Beach International Championships.
Fish, the 2009 winner here, eased past Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4.
“Three semi-finals in three weeks, so it’s great for my comeback,” said Del Potro, who reached the final four in San Jose, California, and Memphis, Tennessee, over the past two weeks. “I hope I play well tomorrow against Mardy.”
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, is on the comeback trail after a wrist injury and surgery derailed his last season.
He edged Anderson, ranked 40th in the world, by converting both of his two break points while never offering the South African a break opportunity.
Yesterday’s other semi-final was to feature Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the 2008 champion, against sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.
Nishikori, whose only ATP singles crown came at Delray Beach, rallied to defeat US qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4.
Tipsarevic defeated Croatian Ivan Dodig 7-6, (7/0), 6-1.
Sweeting, ranked 118th and in his first career ATP quarter-final, saved two break-points in the first set and broke a 4-4 tie-breaker deadlock by winning three of the next four points to claim the first set in 49 minutes.
Nishikori, ranked 66th, broke Sweeting to open the second set and denied Sweeting on his only three break-point chances of the match to force a third set, in which he managed the lone break to win after two hours, 10 minutes.
“I’m really happy to be in the semis tomorrow. It’s my favorite tournament, so hopefully I can go farther,” said Nishikori, who lives in Florida in part to escape the spotlight back home in Japan.
“No one knows me here, so it’s much easier for me,” he said. “If I stayed in Japan all the time, I might go crazy. I have to wear sunglasses and a hat, but it’s fun sometimes when everybody knows me. It’s good to be me.”
Tipsarevic, ranked 52nd, is seeking his first ATP title after having lost finals at Moscow in 2009 and s-Hertogenbosch last year. His most recent ATP semi-final was last month in Chennai.
MEXICAN OPEN
REUTERS, MEXICO CITY
World No. 13 Nicolas Almagro can lift a third successive title on Latin American clay and 10th overall if he wins the Mexican Open final in Acapulco, Mexico, yesterday.
The third-seeded Spaniard, who won the Buenos Aires Open last week and the Brazil Open the week before, reached the final with a 7-6 7-4 win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in Friday’s quarter-finals to extend his winning streak to 13 matches.
Almagro, who has won 18 of his 20 matches this year, will also be chasing his third Mexican Open victory after winning the -tournament in 2008 and 2009, when he faces either top seeded compatriot and title holder David Ferrer or Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Surprise Australian Open quarter-finalist Dolgopolov, seeded-sixth, has had a good tournament after an upset first round defeat by Argentine wild card Jose Acasuso in Buenos Aires last week having met Almagro in the Brazilian final in Costa do Sauipe.
Argentine fourth seed Gisela Dulko reached the women’s final after a 6-0 6-2 win over Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues, who had upset top-seed Julia Goerges of Germany in the second round.
Dulko faces sixth seed Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain who beat Swede Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-0.
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