Dubai: Former five-time champion Roger Federer confirmed his dream semi-final meeting with defending champion Novak Djokovic with a systematic 6-2, 6-2 dismantling of Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol in front of a packed weekend crowd here late on Thursday.
The Swiss ace and the defending champion have met twice in Dubai and the record presently stands all square at 1-1. In a chequered career spanning nearly two decades, Djokovic and Federer have clashed 31 times with the Swiss hold a slender edge 16-15 going into Friday’s semi-finals.
Together, Federer and Djokovic have claimed nine of the eleven titles with only Rafael Nadal [in 2006] and Andy Roddick [2008] managing to prevent a total domination from the two players in this tournament.
Dubai has been a favoured hunting ground for both with Federer winning in only his second appearance in Dubai in 2003 followed by titles in 2004 and 2005 to make it three in-a-row. Nadal ended Federer’s 19-match winning streak in a dramatic three-set final in 2006.
Federer was far more clinical in his approach on Thursday. After being broken by Rosol in the second game, Federer broke back and held for 2-2 before taking the next four games to win the opening set 6-2 in just 28 minutes.
The second too was a stroll with Federer breaking in the third and fifth to serve out set and match in two minutes less than an hour to set up a much anticipated semi-final clash with Djokovic.
“I’m looking forward to the match. One match, best-of-three sets on a court like this, it’s a bit too much. But let’s see what happens anyway. We both know that, and I’m looking forward to the match,” Federer said.
“We know each other very well, and we’ve played each other everywhere and all the surfaces, you name it, so I think we know each other very well. I think we always play the matchup actually very good because we play explosive, aggressive tennis, so there is always some shot making going on. I think it’s really improved very much over the years,” Federer added.
Earlier, last year’s losing finalist Tomas Berdych eased his way to a semi-final spot against Philipp Kohlschreiber with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga later in the night.
Berdych, who had ended on the losing side to Novak Djokovic last year, was in complete control through the one hour and 28 minutes spent on centre court against his French opponent.
Tsonga hit a forehand wide for Berdych to break for the only time and take the first set 6-4 in 35 minutes. In the second set, the Czech controlled well to be tied till 3-3. Suddenly the Czech pulled away and took the next three games to wrap up set and match and set a semi-final meeting with Kohlschreiber.
Friday’s semi-finals
5 pm - Tomas Berdych vs Philipp Kohlschreiber
7 pm - Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer