By Chris Oddo | Thursday, February 26, 2015
Roger Federer reached the Dubai semifinals when Richard Gasquet retired after the first set. Tomas Berdych also won.
Photo Source: AFP
Roger Federer improved to 10-0 lifetime in Dubai quarterfinals and he only needed to work for 20 minutes to do it, as Richard Gasquet retired after dropping the first set, 6-1 in Dubai.
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Gasquet appeared to be ailing from a previous match, as he didn’t do anything during the brief encounter to bring about any injuries. The Frenchman had to battle for over four and a half hours to reach the quarterfinals, taking down Andreas Seppi and Roberto Bautista Agut in protracted three-set battles.
On Thursday, he was off from the start. He managed only a single hold of serve in the third game of the set, and after Federer rallied back from 0-40 down to clinch the set, he promptly pulled the plug.
Federer did have time for this bit of drop shot return mastery before heading to sign autographs for fans:
Federer will continue his bid for a record seventh Dubai title on Friday when he meets 18-year-old Borna Coric in the semis. Coric notched his second career top five win with a straight-sets takedown of Andy Murray in the day’s first match.
Tomas Berdych, who won his 500th career ATP match on Wednesday, also moved through, defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in one hour and 42 minutes.
Berdych improves to 4-0 vs. the Ukranian with the victory, and 20-8 at Dubai. He will meet either Novak Djokovic or Marsel Ilhan in the semifinals.