The top two players in the world will contest the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships today after contrasting semi-final victories yesterday.
World number two Roger Federer thrashed Croatian teenager Borna Coric 6-2 6-1 in just 57 minutes before Novak Djokovic needed more than twice as long to beat Tomas Berdych in three sets, prevailing 6-0 5-7 6-4.
“Maybe I was a bit tentative in the beginning, but I was still able to get off to somewhat of a good start,” said Federer.
“I felt like after five games I knew more or less what to expect and I realised what had worked until that point and what had not. I can see why he has so far caused difficulties for some of the top guys and he still has a lot of room for improvement.
“He does a really good job for a big guy. It’s unbelievable how in the past 10 years we have seen so many big guys moving well from the baseline. I think he returns very well.”
Djokovic looked set for an equally comfortable win over Berdych when he raced through the opening set 6-0, only to lose the second, despite breaking Berdych when he initially served for the set at 5-3.
A second break of serve gave Berdych the set 7-5, but Djokovic bounced back to take a hard-fought decider 6-4.