FEDERER FLIES INTO DUBAI SEMIS, JOINS DJOKOVIC AND CORIC BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 26th February 2015

FEDERER FLIES INTO DUBAI SEMIS, JOINS DJOKOVIC AND CORIC BY RICKY DIMON

epa04637176 Roger Federer of Switzerland returns the ball to Fernando Verdasco of Spain during the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis ATP Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25 February 2015. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Federer flies into Dubai semis, joins Djokovic, Berdych, and Coric

By Ricky Dimon

Roger Federer lost only one game to Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday. Of course, he only had to play one set.

Gasquet retired due to a back problem after Federer stormed through the opening frame 6-1. They had spent a mere 20 minutes on court.

“I think I played well,” the 33-year-old Swiss suggested. “I served well. Then again, the test was so short that it’s tough to judge on a 20-minute match. But I think I was hitting the ball well again, like yesterday. I felt able to play aggressive and do what I was hoping to do. So I was very pleased, actually.”

Borna Coric of Croatia celebrates after beating Andy Murray of Britain in their quarter final match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis ATP Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 26 February 2015. EPA/ALI HAIDER

Next up for Federer is surprising semifinalist Borna Coric, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser and stunned Andy Murray 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday.

After losing a qualifying match to Fabrice Martin, Coric benefited from Philipp Kohlschreiber’s withdrawal because of illness. The 18-year-old Croat’s good fortune continued in round two when Marcos Baghdatis retired during a third-set tiebreaker. Coric’s run also includes a three-set victory over Malek Jaziri.

Whereas Federer and Coric are meeting for the first time, the other semifinal will pit Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych against each other for the 20th time in their careers. At least statistically, Berdych’s struggles against Djokovic are even more significant than the well-documented problems he has endured against Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is dominating the head-to-head series with the Czech 17-2, including a perfect 15-0 on hard courts.

If there is any good news for Berdych, it is that he remains one of the most consistent players on tour. The world No. 8 is 15-3 this season with two runner-ups, a semifinal at the Australian Open, and wins this week over Jeremy Chardy, Simone Bolelli and Sergiy Stakhovsky. While Berdych needed three sets twice, Djokovic advanced to the last four by easing past Vasek Pospisil, Andrey Golubev, and Marsel Ilhan.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan during the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis ATP Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25 February 2015. EPA/ALI HAIDER

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp, Borna Coric, djokovic, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Federer, Richard Gasquet, Tennis, Tomas Berdych

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10sBalls_com says:

February 26, 2015 at 4:44 pm

-@rogerfederer FLIES INTO @DDFTennis SEMIS, JOINS @DjokerNole AND @BornaCoric BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/PQlgbNLdvn #tennis #Dubai #ATPDubai