Roger Federer moves into quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2011
World number two Roger Federer made his way into the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2011 after beating his Spanish opponent Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4.
This was the top seed’s 755th career victory and the Swiss maestro joins Ilie Nastase at the 8th spot in the list of most career wins in the Open era.
Federer took the lead in the first set when he broke his Spanish opponent in the fourth game with a blistering backhand winner. He did require four break points to claim the break though. Serving for the set at 5-3, he held to win the first set comfortably.
Hitting two aces and winning 75 per cent of the points on his first serve, Federer did not face any break point in the opening set.
The story of second set was almost the same as first’s. Federer broke Granollers in the opening game. The Spaniard had a couple of chances to break back immediately, but Roger managed to hold his serve with the help of some scorching serves and forehands.
Federer maintained his lead for the rest of the set and closed it out on serve to win the match in 70 minutes. He saved both break points he faced in the second set while his opponent managed to save only three out of the four break points. Service was again
Federer’s strong point as he won 84 per cent of the points on his first serve.
Commenting on the second set, Federer said, “I think obviously the opportunity I had at 4-2, Love-40. After playing such a good game, to end up sort of losing it... You know there was disappointing shots and of course he served a few good serves. But I think
really I should have won that game and gone on to serve it out after that.”
The Swiss maestro also revealed that it was difficult to keep one’s concentration on the game all the time during a match.
Federer said, “Sometimes it (concentration) wanders. Sometimes if you have a song in your mind, sometimes you’re thinking of what’s going to happen tomorrow, what’s the plan for tonight. All those things happen. We’re human at the end of the day. We’re not
a machine and go from point to point like Robocop, you know.”
Federer is chasing his fifth title at the Dubai Open. He won the title in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. However, due to health issues, he did not feature in the last two editions of the tournament.
Federer is scheduled to face Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky in the quarterfinals for their first-ever match.
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