1 Response to dubai14federer_berdych

1. Voo de Mar says:

   January 13, 2022 at 2:39 pm

   Federer’s route to his 78th title:
   1 Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-4
   2 Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3
   Q Lukas Rosol 6-2, 6-2
   S Novak Djokovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
   W Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

   ATP
   “I was happy I was able to use momentum, win that second set, and then it was a tough opening period in the third, wasting the Love-40 game on Tomas’ first service game,” said Federer. “Then saving break points myself. Anything could have happened there.” The 32-year-old Federer won his 78th tour-level title, taking him above John McEnroe to standalone third in the all-time title leaders list. The Swiss has won at least one ATP World Tour title every year since 2000 and Saturday’s victory saw him pass the $80m mark in career earnings. Federer received 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points and $465,830 as he improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head lead over Berdych to 12-6. He had lost his past two meetings with the Czech, in the 2012 US Open quarter-finals and in the Dubai semi-finals last year. Breaks were exchanged in the opening stages of the match before Berdych broke decisively in the sixth game to ultimately take the opener. The Czech looked to be on course for his second ATP World Tour title in three weeks as he went a break up to lead 3:2 in the 2nd set as Federer went wide with a forehand. But Berdych blinked. The Czech immediately handed the break back to Federer with an error-strewn game. Seizing the momentum, Federer then broke to love in the 10th game to level the match. The Swiss went all out at the start of the third set, looking to capitalise on his change in fortunes. He had a triple break pont on Berdych’s serve in the second game, but the Czech reeled off five straight points to level. Federer then saved a break point of his own in the following game before finally getting his break in the fourth game as a Berdych forehand landed long. He went on to claim victory in just under two hours. Federer has a 42-5 event record in Dubai, previously lifting the trophy in 2003-05, 2007 and 2012. He improved to a 14-2 record through the first two months of the season, finishing runner-up in Brisbane (l. to Hewitt) and reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal). Berdych had been looking to go one better than last year, when he finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the final. The Czech was denied a second crack at Djokovic when the Serb’s reign in the desert was ended in the semi-finals by Federer. “I would say many things [went wrong],” lamented Berdych. “The match started pretty well. I had really many chances, and then I basically just gave him the game and that’s it. It’s very disappointing for me the way I handled that situation. I was in the better shape and playing really well and made my chances, but unfortunately I didn’t execute it in the end. I’m quite good in that I don’t keep the losses in my head for a long time. I will definitely try to learn from the mistakes in the second set. I will just try to take positives from that and just leave all the negatives behind.” The 28-year-old Berdych had been on an 11-match winning run, having won his ninth ATP World Tour title two weeks ago in Rotterdam (d. Cilic). He dropped to a 9-12 finals record.

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