Tennis: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer in Dubai Duty Free final
Dubai, Feb 28 (IANS): World No.1 Novak Djokovic defeated World No.8 Tomas Berdych in the smifinal, while second seed Roger Federer swept away the Dubai Duty Free Championship's surprise candidate, 18-year-old Boris Coric in a short match here.
World No.2 Federer entered the Dubai open final first by winning 6-2, 6-1 over Croatia's Coric early Friday afternoon amid cloudy, but warm weather in Dubai. Coric, nevertheless, gained ample recognition when he kicked out Englishman Andy Murray in the quarter-finals Thursday, a major surprise of the tournament, reports Xinhua.
Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion Federer could win his seventh title in Dubai Saturday.
The "Djoker" won 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 against Czech player Berdych, who was especially weak in his first services throughout the match. The suspense was high during this high-class match. Djoker's trainer, Germany's former superstar Boris Becker, got up several times from his seat on the tribune during the match and gave hints with hand signals.
Both players had a rate of 48 percent unforced errors. "To me, there were two different parts of the match," said Djokovic referring to his strong first set and the neck-on-neck fight during the second set which he lost.
On the upcoming final against the 33-year-old Federer, the 27-year-old Serbian superstar said, "Roger represents always a big challenge and I look forward to the match on Saturday."
If Djoker wins, it would be his fifth title in Dubai.