Abu Dhabi: Last year’s runner-up at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, David Ferrer, who was swept off the court by defending champion Novak Djokovic’s powerplay in Thursday’s semi-final, gained some consolation with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Janko Tipsarevic on Saturday afternoon.
The world number 5 from Spain was up 5-2 before the Serb fought back to take the first set to the tie-break. But Ferrer, who faced some tough moments when the pair were tied 5-5, won the tie-break 7-3 to take the first set.
Tipsarevic, who had knocked out world number three Andy Murray in the opening match of the tournament on Thursday, failed to do much in the second set as he succumbed 2-6 to the Spaniard.
“It was a pretty close match, I had a chance in the first set at 5-2, 5-3, but he broke me and then at 5-5, he had more chances. He did not make it and the tie-break was more easy for me,” said Ferrer, who is off to Doha now to start his new year campaign.
“It is very important to be here with the best players of the world, to evaluate my level. Anyway, this is not a competition, but for me every match I tried to be focused like a competition. Now I am happy with my play here,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer said his games against Tipsarevic have always been closely-contested affairs.
“Janko is a top-ten-ranked player, and normally when we play it is very close,” he said.
A finalist here last year, Ferrer said he would love to come back to Abu Dhabi, insisting the event and Zayed Sports City venue is perfect for him to prepare for the new season after a break.
