Berdych continues impressive run; Federer, Djokovic stay on course

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is turning into a feast fit for the sheikhs night after night. The top quality field is ensuring that the hot ticket is worth every Dirham spent with the best among men plying their trade on the centre court of the tennis stadium at Garhoud. The line-up on Wednesday included the impressive Tomas Berdych during the day session and a night card that had Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic turn out back to back in the evening. The third seeded Czech was as erratic as he could be in the first set, but survived the period to prevail 7-5, 6-1 over Tobias Kamke to reach the quarters. Roger Federer, who survived a three set scare in the first round, was far more assured in putting away Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last eight. In the final match of the night, Novak Djokovic faced stiff resistance towards the end of his match before sealing a 6-1, 7-6(4) victory over Roberto Bautista-Agut.

Federer and Djokovic in action at the Dubai Tennis Championships

Berdych has been a study in consistency this year, going deep in every tournament thus far to build up a 12-3 record including the heart-breaking runner up finish against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Marseille last week. The Czech has been scratchy this week and he began on the wrong foot against Kamke. Fortunately for Berdych, the German failed to convert the two break points each that were offered to him in the first two service games from his opponent. Having wasted those chances, Kamke compounded his situation when he threw in two double faults to be broken to love in the sixth game to initiate a sequence of four straight service breaks till the German finally held again in the tenth game to bring the set back on serve at 5-5.

The Czech finally took the first set at the fourth time of asking when Kamke dumped a forehand down the line in the net. With the set in the bag, the Czech finally resembled a top ten player. Playing far more consistent tennis than in the first set, Berdych broke serve twice before following a kick serve to the net to clean up the match with a backhand volley winner to enter the quarter-finals. Standing between Berdych and a likely semi-final date with Federer is the veteran Dmitry Tursunov, who is making the most of his wild card. Tursunov overcame Michael Llodra 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3 to reach the last eight.

Djokovic was cruising to victory in his late evening match; at 6-1, 5-2, it seemed all but over to everyone except Bautista-Agut. The Spaniard mounted a late recovery to inch his way back into the set one point at a time, playing with renewed purpose and waiting patiently to finish points as he worked his way back into the match. Bautista-Agut displayed his steely determination as he saved four match points even as he clawed back to parity from 2-5 in the second set before forcing a tie-break down the reluctant throat of the Serbian. The Spaniard drew the three-time former champion forward with a drop shot before putting away an easy volley to take the first mini-break.

Djokovic finally asserted some authority to jump to a 5-2 lead winning four points in a row. Surprisingly though, with the match on his racket, the Serbian made a mess out of an easy backhand as he contrived to lose both his service points. In an anti-climactic finish, Bautista-Agut laid his immense fightback to waste as he sailed a forehand wide before ending the match with a double fault. The Serbian will hope to avoid any such late match stutter when he takes on Andreas Seppi for a place in the semi-finals. The seventh seeded Italian defeated the man who has become famous as the Nadal slayer – Lukas Rosol 6-4, 7-6(4) to earn his date with Djokovic.

Roberto Bautista Agut gave Djokovic a mini scare before losing in the tie-breaker

Like the Serbian, Federer too had a Spaniard across the net in the form of 34th ranked Marcel Granollers. Federer broke in the sixth game of the first set to take control of the first set at 4-2. The second set was a considerably closer affair despite Federer taking charge with a break in the fifth game. The Swiss had to endure a nervy few minutes in the eighth game, where Granollers threatened to pull back the break, but Federer had his serve rescue him on both the break points before holding to 5-3. Federer immediately had two match points, but flailed a forehand long on the first and scuffed a backhand into the net on the second to squander both chances.

The emboldened Spaniard held serve to force the Swiss to serve out for the match. And Federer obliged, dealing in service winners to clinch his spot in the quarter-finals for the eighth time in his career. Despite being partly sluggish during parts of the second set, Federer felt in control of the match. “I think I was sharper today,” said Federer. “I had a more clear plan now. I knew what I could and couldn’t do. I was a bit more confident overall. I knew what I wanted to do and I was able to do it, so I’m happy.” In the quarter-finals, Federer will play Nikolay Davydenko for the 21st time in his career. Federer has a 18-2 edge over the Russian who has slipped to 46th in the world after a series of injuries scuttled his season last year. Davydenko survived a closely fought encounter against Victor Hanescu, before coming through 6-4, 7-6(2) in an hour and 48 minutes. As presented in our earlier post, Juan Martin Del Potro and Daniel Brands will contest the other quarter-finals.

Indian players had a good outing in the doubles draw – Mahesh Bhupathi and Michael Llodra defeated the Serbians duo of Janko Tipsarevic and Victor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. The fourth seeded Mariusz Frystenberg and Marcin Matkowski will be their opponents in the battle for a semi-final spot from the bottom half. Rohan Bopanna earned his second victory over his former partner inside a week. Playing with Rajeev Ram, the Indian overcame second seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the last eight stages. Bopanna and Ram will take on Victor Hanescu and Lukas Rosol to decide the other semi-finalist from the lower half of the draw.