Roger Federer beats Richard Gasquet, will face Novak Djokovic in Dubai tennis final
Top seed Roger Federer defeated Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 7-5 in the semi-final of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship on Friday.
Federer took the first set easily, breaking his opponent twice. The Swiss made a good start breaking Gasquet in the opening game and broke Gasquet again in the seventh game to serve out the set at 5-2. The Swiss hit two aces and got in 79 per cent of his
first serves in the first set. He did not face any break point, while Gasquet faced five break points out of which he could save just three.
The Frenchman bounced back in the second set and played a more aggressive game to break Federer in the eighth game for 5-3. However, Gasquet missed out the opportunity to level the match when he got broken at 5-4. Federer held his serve in the eleventh game
to lead 6-5. Finally breaking Gasquet in the twelfth game, Federer clinched the set 7-5.
Federer hit four aces and won 84 per cent of the points on his first serve as opposed to his opponent’s 57 percent. The Swiss saved one of the two break points in the second set. The match lasted for 73 minutes.
Commenting on the match, Federer said, “I was very happy about my performance from the start. I felt I was hitting the ball well. He's a great talent. He's one of the guys I really enjoy playing the most on tour. I thought tonight I played the right way.
Obviously should have gone or could have gone three sets, but I was able to avoid that.”
Federer will face the second seed, world number 3, Novak Djokovic of Serbia for the title on Saturday. The Serb defeated Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic to advance to the final.
Talking about his opponent in the next match, the Swiss said, “He's obviously looking to get the hat-trick here; I hope to stop him and get my fifth. I'm excited about the match. I'm sure we're going to see great rallies.”
Djokovic stopped Federer from winning his 17th grand slam title last month, when he defeated the Swiss in the semi-final of the Australian Open. However, Federer leads the head-to-head record 13-7 against the Serbian and will be seeking revenge.
The world number two is bidding to win the 68th title of his career.
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