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DUBAI: Top seed Roger Federer was given a scare
before reaching the semifinals of the Dubai Open with a 6-3, 6-7
(5-7), 6-3 win over improving Serbian teenager Novak Djokovic on
Thursday.
Though world No. 1 Federer
achieved his 39th successive win, he lost a tie-break for the first
time in 16 tries (since the US Open in September) and ran into
difficulties in the final set.
Without Hawkeye, introduced in
this tournament for the first time, Federer would have won in
straight sets.
On the second of a pair of match
points in the tie-break the line judge called Federer’s drive in,
a decision which would have given him a straight sets win.
But the world No. 14 appealed to
the replay, which showed Federer’s shot out, and two points later
stole the set with a net cord.
“It’s hard to accept at match
point. You are either shaking hands or changing sides, and that
happens,” said Federer.
“But maybe I should have closed
it out earlier not to be in that position, and should have closed it
out at 6-4. I can only blame myself.”
After that, seventh-seeded
Djokovic, 19, began to play his best tennis of the match, while
Federer, who found the court faster than he really liked, struggled
with his forehand.
“I can usually hit them from
midcourt in my sleep, but for some reason here I can’t,” he
said.
When Djokovic reached 3-3 with an
impressive service game, and Federer had to battle to get to 4-3,
Djokovic sensed he could win.
But two missed groundstrokes
from Djokovic slid him to love-40, and Federer took the chance
immediately, an outrageously early backhand return of serve brooking
no response.
He served out for the match
without difficulty, earning a semifinal with the fifth-seeded German
Tommy Haas, who breezed past Olivier Rochus of Belgium, 6-0, 6-2.
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