Federer to play Berdych in Dubai semis

Roger Federer, a five-time titlist in Dubai, beat fellow 31-year-old Nikolay Davydenko of Russia for the 19th time in 21 meetings, 6-2, 6-2 in 54 minutes, to conclude play on day four. Federer is now 37-4 at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament and goes onto face third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals. The Swiss is bidding to win his 77th singles title this week.

“I was very happy, it was a good match for me,” said Federer. “I served well from the start. Then, also, I thought I had good timing on the return in particular after missing a lot of returns in the first match versus Malek Jaziri. And the second match, obviously, he was serving bigger, [Marcel] Granollers. Today, I thought I was really striking it well, and then [the] virtue of that, was that I getting the first strike in and then I was able to control the baseline more.”

“I haven't seen Berdych play much this year,” admitted Federer. “He's obviously a good player. He's got amazing power, one of the strongest guys out there on tour. We'll see tomorrow how it goes. I haven't seen him play at all here this tournament. I need to just focus on my game, I guess.”

Date: 28th February 2013, Source: ATP