Dubai semifinals set: Federer v. Del Potro, Djokovic v. Murray.

Roger Federer powered to a 12th consecutive victory over Mikhail Youzhny, a result which seals the four-time champion’s place in the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships. The Swiss world No 3, who has not won the ATP 500 event since 2007, moved within two wins of a fifth title after posting an impressive 6-3 6-4 victory over the Russian. A solitary break of serve in each set was good enough for Federer, who improved his head-to-head record over Youzhny to a remarkable 12-0 without fending off a single break point. Speaking after the win, Federer said: “I thought Mikhail was making a lot of chances. It just didn’t go his way. “I just played well on my service games and I think the speed of the courts here helps with that. “I think I also have a good focus this week. So I have to keep it up if I want to win the title.”

Federer will face eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the last four after the Argentinian defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 6-2. Del Potro defeated Tsonga on his way to the Open 13 title in Marseille last week and had little trouble completing a second win in quick succession against the Frenchman. Although the first set was a closely-fought affair, Del Potro was clearly a class above in the second and eventually eased to a comfortable win. Del Potro holds a 2-9 mark versus Federer, having lost their past three meetings. “All the matches are different, all tournaments are different, [so] I’m trying to find a way to beat again him,” del Potro said. “His game is really difficult for me. He plays slices, dropshots, and he’s one of the best in history. So I just want to be ready for fight and to see how I’m going to play against him.”

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic recorded a first straight-sets victory over good friend Janko Tipsarevic to book a last-four date with Briton Andy Murray, who put out Tomas Berdych. The world No 1 won the all-Serbian quarter-final 6-1 7-6 (8-6). The Serb powered his way through the opening set before staving off a set point to edge Jankovic, who coughed up two double faults, in the tie-breaker. “I thought I started really well,” Djokovic told the ATP Tour website. “He was missing first serves, didn’t have a high percentage. “Then in the second set, whenever I had a break ball he served well. So he was very close to take that second set. Then who knows what could have happened. We both got a little bit nervous towards the end, I guess, and it was just luck to prevail.” As for his clash with Murray, he said: “Every time you play, especially top four, it’s a big challenge for both of us. “Especially after that Australian Open thrilling match that lasted for five hours. It’s going to be a good match. We both look forward to that. We always try to win against each other and it’s a great rivalry.”

 

 

Del Potro wins his 10th ATP title in Marseille.

Juan Martin Del Potro won his 10th career ATP title  with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Frenchman Michael Llodra in the final of the Open 13 in Marseille. The fourth seed conceded only 13 points on serve as he swept aside the home crowd’s favourite, firing down 11 aces against the 2010 champion. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion and now rebuilding his career afrer injury, broke once in each set and did not face a break point on his way to victory in just 82 minutes. Del Potro briefly wobbled at 0-30 down when serving for the match, but closed out the victory when Llodra netted a forehand. The world number 10 is now looking further up the rankings.

“When you win a title, it’s special,” he said. “You really have to celebrate it. I think I am getting closer to the best players in the world. I’m in the top 10 now. I beat (Tomas) Berdych last week and (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga this week. “If I keep working, staying at this level, step by step, I’ll get closer to the top players.” The beaten Llodra, who had not dropped his serve in the previous two rounds, said: “Juan Martin played a great match and didn’t give me any opportunities on his serve. “He was impresive on his serve. I was a bit less strong with the most important parts of my game like my serve and my volley. He served well and we know the quality of his ground strokes so there wasn’t much I could do. Therefore, I don’t have any regrets. He was just better than me.”

Federer will meet DelPotro in Sunday’s ABN Amro final in Rotterdam.

Roger Federer reached the ABN Amro World Tennis final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday. Federer, playing in Rotterdam for the first time since capturing the 2005 title, will play for the championship Sunday against Juan Martin del Potro. The third-seeded Argentine downed second-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal. Del Potro, making his first Rotterdam appearance, will be seeking his first title since last May at Estoril. He has beaten Federer only twice in 10 matches and lost to the Swiss star in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Davydenko made a strong start, breaking Federer in the ninth game before holding his serve to claim the first set. The Russian forced another break in the third game of the second set but Federer broke back at 2-3 to take control. Federer still had to overcome three break points while trailing Davydenko 4-3 in the final set. “It’s good to see Davydenko back at this playing level,” Federer said. “Fortunately for me, he wasn’t good enough to knock me out.”

Del Potro broke his Czech opponent in the opening game before making another break at 5-3 to take the first set. In the one-sided second set, the Argentine took a 5-0 lead, then surrendered a game and completed the rout on his ninth ace of the match.

Federer wins his 1000th match and waits for either Rafa or Berdych in the semifinal.

Roger Federer progressed to the semi-finals of the Australian Open with an imperious straight-sets victory over 11th seed Juan Martin del Potro. The third seed needed just under two hours to complete a 6-4 6-3 6-2 win. Del Potro was broken early in all three sets and had no answer to the variety of Federer’s play, with the Swiss yet to lose a set in Melbourne. Federer will play the winner of the quarter-final between second seed Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych.

“I thought it was a great match,” said the 16-time Grand Slam champion after a fitting conclusion to his 1,000th match. “I’m happy. It was tough with the sun and shade creeping across the court. Del Potro is a quality player and I was able to manoeuvre the ball around the court. I hope I can keep it up.”

Federer, competing in his 31st straight Grand Slam quarter-final, had little trouble in disposing of the Argentine in their first meeting in a major tournament since Del Potro’s victory in the final of the US Open in 2009. The Swiss had a slight wobble in the second set, surviving four break points, before resuming his dominance to break in the opening game of the third set and bringing the match to a conclusion with a sumptuous backhand winner.

 

Del Potro is next up for Federer, while Rafa will take on Berdych.

Nadal rarely needed to hit top form in beating his fellow Spaniard 6-4 6-4 6-2 on a sweltering Rod Laver Arena. The second seed next plays seventh seed Tomas Berdych, who beat Nicolas Almagro in a stormy match. Federer ended Australian Tomic’s hopes with a dominant 6-4 6-2 6-2 win to set up a match with Juan Martin del Potro. I did what I had to do to win in straight sets and, against a really good player, that’s very positive for me. I’m feeling fine,” said Nadal, who had strapping on his right knee and left foot and has now reached the quarter-final stage without dropping a set for the fourth time in five years. “It’s positive to keep winning in straight sets, especially in these conditions. It was a very, very hot day. Nadal’s all-round game was too much for 18th seed Lopez, whose passive approach played into his compatriot’s hands.

Bidding for his 17th Grand Slam title, Federer was ruthless in his victory over crowd favourite Tomic, 19. The 30-year-old, who has not lost to a teenager since 2006, broke the Australian six times to advance to his 31st consecutive quarter-final where he will face Del Potro of Argentina.”I thought I played a really good match,” said four-time Australian Open champion Federer. “I knew I had to. Anything else wouldn’t have done the job.”

Del Potro overcame Philipp Kohlschreiber to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time since winning the 2009 US Open. With his wrist problems finally in the past, the 11th seed from Argentina saw off German Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-2 6-1.

 

Bernard Tomic came back from two sets down to beat 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the first round of the Australian Open.

Tomic prevailed 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-2 7-5 after four hours and 11 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena. Juan Martin del Potro powered back from a set down to beat Adrian Mannarino, while world number two Rafael Nadal beat Alex Kuznetsov 6-4 6-1 6-1. Tomas Berdych, Mardy Fish and Nicolas Almagro also triumphed.

Ten-time grand slam champion Nadal wrapped up victory in just one hour and 46 minutes, with six breaks of his opponent’s service. He also conceded only two break-point opportunities against the 167th-ranked American throughout the three sets. The Spanish second seed, who played with his right knee bandaged, will face German Tommy Haas in the second round.

Tomic, who won the AAMI Kooyong Classic build-up event, described his match against the Spaniard as “torture” after what was only his third five-set match. But the 19-year-old dug deep in the sweltering heat to take the match to a decider, finally breaking the weary Spaniard in the 11th game of the final set to serve for the match. Tomic will play Sam Querrey in the second round after the American beat wild card Kenny de Schepper in straight sets. Meanwhile, Del Potro powered back from a set down to beat Adrian Mannarino to maintain his record of never having lost an opening-round match in seven visits to Melbourne. The 2009 US Open champion, seeded 11th, made a poor start but later showed signs of top form to win 2-6 6-1 7-5 6-4 and seal a meeting with Blaz Kavcic.

Elsewhere, 18th seed Feliciano Lopez overcame Leonardo Mayer and next plays Flavio Cipolla of Italy, a five-set winner against former world number three Nikolay Davydenko. Another upset saw Ivo Karlovic hit 24 aces en route to a 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-3 victory over 31st seed Jurgen Melzer.

 

Li Na upsets Kvitova’s hope of becoming #1.

It was also a day of upsets in the men’s draw as top seed Juan Martin Del Potro and third seed Richard Gasquet both went out in the quarter-finals. Argentinian Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, went down 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 to Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Frenchman Gasquet also crashed out in straight sets with Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan claimed a 6-4 7-6 (7/4) victory. Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen swept aside American Bobby Reynolds 6-3 6-3, while France’s Julien Benneteau beat Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia 6-2 6-4.

Petra Kvitova’s hopes of replacing Caroline Wozniacki as world number one before the start of the Australian Open were ended by defeat to Li Na in the semi-finals of the Sydney International. The Czech second seed would have taken top spot from the Dane, who crashed out on Wednesday, by winning the tournament. But Chinese fourth seed Li, the French Open champion and Australian Open finalist last year, came from a set down to clinch a 1-6 7-5 6-2 in just under two hours. Wimbledon champion Kvitova looked on course for a routine win when she broke three times to take the first set, but she was made to pay for not taking her chances as she wasted seven break points in the second. Li converted the two she carved out and stepped up a level in the decider to claim victory.

She will take on Belorussian Victoria Azarenka in the final after the third seed saw off Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. The seventh seed was unable to repeat her success against Wozniacki as Azarenka also responded to dropping a one-sided first set to win 1-6 6-3 6-2.

 

 

 

 

 

Tsonga defeats del Potro in Vienna and helps his chances of qualifying for London.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took a giant step towards cementing his place at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals after coming from behind to beat Juan Martin Del Potro in the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Top seed Tsonga found himself a set and a break down but rallied to record a 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-4 triumph on Sunday. The victory, Tsonga’s second of the season and seventh overall, lifts the Frenchman up to seventh in the world rankings with the world’s top eight qualifying for the ATP finals in London. Former US Open champion Del Potro, who is now 9-4 in career finals, is still waiting for his first victory at an indoor event. Del Potro looked to be in control of the match after winning the opening set on a tie-break and breaking for a 2-1 lead in the second, but Tsonga reeled off four straight games on his way to levelling the contest. In the final set, Tsonga stepped up on serve, firing nine of his 25 aces to win 80 per cent of his service points. He broke his Argentinian opponent in the seventh game and closed out the match with a love service game. “That was really tough,” said Tsonga. “Juan Martin played very well. “I lost a little motivation after losing the first set but fortunately I got it back quickly.”

Spain will host three-time runners-up Argentina in the final of the Davis Cup in December

Four-time winners Spain will host three-time runners-up Argentina in the final of the Davis Cup in December after they beat France and Serbia respectively. While Spain cruised past France 4-1 in Cordoba, Argentina enjoyed a narrow 3-2 overall victory with their progress confirmed when world number one Novak Djokovic had to retire through injury during his match with Juan Martin del Potro. Del Potro was leading 7-6 (7/5) 3-0 when Djokovic, who won the US Open title last Monday, went down with a scream and had to be carried to the bench, giving Argentina an unassailable 3-1 lead with one rubber remaining. Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic narrowed the final deficit when he won the first set against Juan Monaco who subsequently retired.

Spain, though, eased impressively through with Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco both enjoying straight-sets wins over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. Djokovic admitted with hindsight his decision to play against Argentina was not the correct one given the back injury he was carrying from the US Open. He said: “I feel very disappointed to end the tie in this way, I tried although I was only 60 per cent fit and I got into the match knowing there was a risk of aggravating the injury which I first felt at the US Open. “We knew my condition was not good but we believed that even so I would have a better chance against Del Potro than my team-mate Viktor Troicki would. At the end of the day it was my decision and it backfired. “I am not saying I would have won if I had been 100 per cent fit because Del Potro played at a very high level today and never in my professional career did I struggle with my return of serve as I did today. “The important thing now is to determine the extent of my injury and how long it will take me to recover, I was able to battle through the pain in the US Open final but not today.”

 

 

Serbia in danger of going down 0-2 against Argentina.

Janko Tipsarevic looks to level the score in Belgrade against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in the second rubber of this Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group semifinal clash, following David Nalbandian’s early win over Viktor Troicki.

Tipsarevic is in the form of his life. He enters today’s match having reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the US Open, where he was forced to retire with a leg injury against his team-mate and countryman Djokovic. But Del Potro will prove a tough test for the Serbian. The tall Argentine dispatched both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal en route to his first and only Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open and holds the notable distinction of inflicting the worst Grand Slam defeat on the mighty Spaniard. Del Potro has a perfect record against Tipsarevic in his two previous meetings and he and his team will be hoping for more of the same today. Novak Djokovic’s exhaustion from winning the U.S. Open and the long journey home have already dealt a blow to Serbia’s hopes of retaining their Davis Cup title, after his replacement Troicki was blown away by Nalbandian in their opening singles rubber. Former world No. 3 Nalbandian, now ranked 74th, produced a performance reminiscent of his prime to win 64 46 62 63 and give the Argentines a 1-0 lead in the Belgrade Arena, where a small but colourful and vociferous band of away fans had much more to cheer about than the partisan 15,000 home crowd. Troicki drew first blood when he broke his opponent in the third game of the opening set but Nalbandian showed no nerves, as he broke back in the sixth and again in the ninth before he held serve to take the first set. The roles were reversed in the second set, when Troicki carved out a double break point in the ninth game and took the second before he levelled the score to send the home crowd into raptures. Serbia’s fans, however, were silent for the rest of the contest as Nalbandian produced a flurry of winners in the third set, including an audacious lob which had the Argentinian contingent in the terraces, all wearing the country’s blue-and-white soccer team shirts, in full swing. Nalbandian raced through the fourth set just as impressively to seal the tie in 2 hours and 51 minutes, putting Argentina in the driving seat ahead of the day’s second rubber between Janko Tipsarevic and 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro.