Roger Federer eased into the Dubai semifinals with a swift 6-2, 6-2 win over his long-time rival Nikolay Davydenko. The Swiss broke twice in each set and played his best match since the Australian Open.
Federer served at 76% for the match, which was easily his best serving day since the 4th round in Melbourne against Milos Raonic. He only lost five points on his first serve and three on his second. As we all know, serving well is very important for Roger, and he will need to serve great just like he did in this match if he wants to win the title at the end of the week.
Next up in the semis is Tomas Berdych who swatted away Dmitry Tursunov. The Czech is in great form recently and he beat Federer at the US Open in the quarterfinals. You have to believe that Roger will be very motivated to get some revenge, but it will be difficult as Tomas always seems to play well against him.
The key to the match will be the serve and return. If he can pressure Berdych early and often he will be able to win a lot of cheap points and that will help him have success. The longer the rallies go the more they will favour Berdych unless Roger can hit the corners frequently and move the big man around. Another factor could be wind, which has been a part o the play quite a bit this week. Berdych is not a good wind player with his high ball toss on the serve, and if it is windy he could have trouble with that shot.
Federer has been getting better with each match he plays, and he will need to continue with that pattern if he wants to come through and challenge for the title on Saturday against Djokovic or del Potro.
Should be a good day of tennis, can't wait.
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