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Federer storms into semi-final
Roger Federer will face either Richard Gasquet or Gilles Simon on Friday for the right to contest the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship final on Saturday.
The Swiss world number two, who is seeded first here at the Aviation Club, beat Sergiy Stakhovsky, of the Ukraine, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semi-final stage, where Serb Novak Djokovic will meet the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych in the opposite half of the draw.
Federer recovered from an early service break to level things up immediately at 1-1 and then, with the score at 4-3 in his favour, he broke again prior to serving out the first set.
A solitary break in the third game of the second set thereafter proved sufficient for the 16-time Grand Slam winner to emerge victorious.
“It was a tough match and tougher than the last couple just because the start of it was tricky,” the 29-year-old said.
“The first three to four games could have been 3-0 to him, 2-1 for me, 3-1 or 2-2, so it was important to stay with him there and save the crucial break points after being down a break and breaking back. “Then, it’s a case of finding the rhythm and working out how to play him: ‘How is he playing?’ ‘How is he serving?’ ‘Is he coming in?’ ‘Is he staying back?’ ‘What are his strengths?’ ‘What are his weaknesses?’
“I obviously knew a lot about him beforehand, but it’s not until you’ve really faced a shot that you know how heavy they are and so forth and whether or not he stands in or back when returning.
“It was just a matter of trying to figure him out. I thought I actually played a really good match for the remainder of the game and I’m happy in the end.
“It’s been maybe a routine score, but I had to work for it tonight.”
Federer has seemingly effortlessly made it through his first three rounds of this tournament having hardly been pushed to great levels of exertion by any of his opponents.
But, regardless of the manner of his route to this phase, it’s clear nothing is as easy as it would appear on a very fast-paced court surface.
“I try not to waste any energy,” Federer added. “The most important thing is to come through; it doesn’t matter if it’s 7-6, 7-6 three times in a row to get to the semis because you want to give yourself chances to win the trophy. That’s what I’m doing.
“I don’t think I’ve had any completely easy matches here. I’ve always had to be very focused and this surface does it to you as well a little bit.
“You’re never quite sure if you’re ’safe’ because, even if you hit and place the serve quite well, if the other guy picks the right side, it comes back really quickly.
“It’s not just a routine put your foot in position and guide it into the other corner. If you try to guide it, you just try to push it and – if you don’t quite contact it well – it’s guaranteed an error. That’s where it makes it really complicated to play here.
“That’s why, in terms of my focus,
I have to be really solid all match long for every point. Otherwise, there could be a shift in momentum. That’s what you don’t want on this sort of surface,” he said.
Frenchmen Gasquet and Simon were the second up on Centre Court on Thursday evening.
RESULTS
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