Roger Federer can win only his second ATP title in 18 months in the Dubai Championships final after beating defending champion Novak Djokovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-final
Roger Federer’s resurgence in 2014 continued on Friday with a superb win over defending champion Novak Djokovic in Dubai. If he can maintain his level on Saturday in the final, which will also feature the big-hitting Czech Tomas Berdych – the sixth seed reaching his second consecutive Dubai Championships final with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber – Federer has a good chance of landing only his second ATP title in the past 18 months.
All through the latter stages of last year Federer kept reassuring us that he would be a new man in the new season. He claimed only one title last year – the 250 event at Halle in Germany – and that came when none of the other members of the “big four” entered. It was a paltry total by his own high standards.
Since the new year, however, Federer has seemed inspired by a combination of a larger racket head and a new coach in Stefan Edberg. He dropped the first set against Djokovic on Friday, allowing himself to be pushed back by the weight of his opponent’s groundstrokes. But then Federer decided to play with more aggression, rushing the net repeatedly and seizing back the initiative. Djokovic could find no answer to the fizzing volleys that kept wrong-footing him and went down 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.