ATP Dubai: Roger Federer in a mood to play - and in the final
Record winner Roger Federer with his strongest performance reached the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai this week. (The game is here in the match tracker.)
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Mar 02, 2019, 09:09 am
Federer beat Croatian Borna Coric 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, reaching for his eighth title in his second home on Saturday.
Coric had won the last two matches against Federer - 2018 in Halle and Shanghai - but today he had no chance. Federer, who had to go over three sets twice in his three matches these days, broke early to 2-1 and played the match from then on from the start.
Federer celebrated 21 winners and successfully completed 11 of 14 network attacks - a strong record in a match that lasted just over an hour.
Federer: revenge against Tsitsipas?
Coric had only won his three matches in Dubai in the tie-break of the third set, "maybe he was a little tired," said Federer afterwards, but was especially happy about his increasing form. "I feel the ball better, hopefully I can keep it up tomorrow."
In the final (Saturday from 4 p.m. CET), Federer now meets Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been unbeaten for eight games and with whom the maestro still has a calculation: It was Tsitsipas who defeated Federer at the Australian Open in the round of 16 and then that Had reached semi-finals.
Federer would celebrate the 100th title of his career if he won.
Struff in the double final
Jan-Lennard Struff has reached the Dubai double final: With Ben McLachlan he defeated Jeevan Neduchezhiyan / Purav Raja in the semi-finals 6: 7 (5), 6: 4, [12:10]. The final will be against Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury on Saturday from 2 p.m. CET.