Dubai: Defending champion Roger
Federer will meet four-time champion Novak Djokovic in the final of the Dubai
Duty Free Men’s Open at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Saturday.
Winner here on six previous
occasions, Federer tamed Croatian teenager Borna Coric 6-2, 6-1 in under an
hour in Friday’s first semi-final, before Djokovic entered his fifth final here
with a well-contested 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 win over two-time runner-up and fourth seed
Tomas Berdych.
That sets up an engrossing final
between the top two-ranked players in men’s tennis. “Roger [Federer] always
presents a huge challenge to me and I look forward to this,” Djokovic said.
“Roger has a fantastic record
here, winning six titles, but I will be there tomorrow [Saturday]. I am looking
forward to it.”
Djokovic started in unstoppable
form, with world No. 1 threatening to blow Berdych away after winning the first
set 6-0 with breaks in the first, third and fifth games in 23 minutes. Djokovic
then led 2-1 in the second, only to see Berdych dig deep and play some
astonishing tennis to draw level 4-4.
In the 11th game, Djokovic
slipped and fell, forcing a time-out. That break was enough for Berdych to
break one more time and wrap up the set 7-5.
Decider
In the decider, a break in the
fifth for a 3-2 cushion was all Djokovic needed as he wrapped up set and match
6-4 in two hours and four minutes of engrossing tennis before a capacity crowd.
Earlier, Federer made best use of
the windy conditions to hand a 56-minute tennis lesson to 18-year-old Coric for
an effortless 6-2, 6-1 win to enter his ninth singles final in the 23-year
history of this tournament.
“I was already happy to be in the
semis. I didn’t want to lose, but the idea was to try to get some matches here
and then look ahead at the season,” he said.
“Clearly Dubai is a very
important tournament for me. I’m very positively surprised how well I’m
actually playing right away.
“I think from that side I’m very
excited that it’s going so well and I know the final is going to be a whole lot
tougher.”
Coric was pleased with fulfilling
his childhood dream of playing against his hero. “I’m just happy that I made
the semi-final. I gave my best. My best wasn’t even close to being good enough
today, but what can you do?” he said.
Federer’s start was more than
Coric could handle as the teen sent a forehand wide to the left of his opponent
to hand him an early 2-0 lead.
Coric broke back in the fifth
game, but Federer mixed his game up well with quick rushes to the net and was
rewarded with a second break, on which he consolidated to win the set 6-2 in a
mere 26 minutes.
In the second set, Federer was
once again in the clear for 2-0 and Coric seemed to be talking to himself,
questioning what was going wrong. The Swiss got a second break in the sixth for
5-1 and then served out for set and match in four minutes short of the hour.
Saturday’s play will commence
with the men’s doubles final at 5pm, followed by the singles final between
Federer and Djkovic at 7pm. This will be only the second time they have met in
the final here, with Djokovic winning 6-3, 6-3 in 2011.
Results
Dubai Duty Free Tennis
ChampionshipsFriday’s early matches
Singles semi-finals:
Novak Djokovic bt Tomas Berdych
6-0, 5-7, 6-4
Roger Federer bt Borna Coric 6-2,
6-1
Doubles semi-finals:
Rohan Bopanna/Daniel Nestor bt
Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau 4-6, 7-6 (9), 11-9
Source : Gulf News
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