Del Potro and the Big Three Reach Dubai Semis

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images

(March 1st, 2012) The semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships reads like one that might appear at any Grand Slam with the top three seeds reaching that stage along with a man many feel could climb into the top four of the ATP rankings very soon.

In today's quarterfinals, Andy Murray faced Tomas Berdych who had beaten him the last three times that they had met. Murray broke early allowing him to take control of the first set, but the second set was much closer as each man broke serve several times while Murray began to grimace with some apparent knee pain.

Berdych was two points away from claiming the set, but it was Murray who broke the tall Czech at 5-all allowing Murray to serve for the match. After squandering a 40-0 lead and four match points, Murray hit a serve that was called out but after he challenged, the serve was viewed to be in. Since Berdych didn't put his return into play on the point, umpire Mohamed Lahyani gave Murray the point anyway which incensed Berdych. After Berdych got into a heated exchange with Lahyani to no avail, play resumed. Murray, on his seventh match point, finally won 6-3, 7-5 after Berdych hit a backhand long.

Murray told the BBC afterwards that his knee shouldn't be a problem for him tomorrow. "I had a problem with it since Brisbane and it's come and gone. It was a bit sore right before the tournament. I didn't feel it at all in the first couple of matches, and then right at the beginning of the second set I felt it. It's not something that stops me sort of running around. I want to try and get rid of it, because there are a lot of the big events coming up."

Murray now sets up a rematch of the Australian Open semifinal when he takes on defending champion Novak Djokovic who defeated fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 7-6.

The second semifinal will be a replay of the Rotterdam final from a few weeks ago as Roger Federer advanced without too much trouble against Russia's Mikhail Youzhny. Federer won 80% of his second serve points which allowed him to win in comfortable fashion 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour.

Federer now faces Juan Martin Del Potro whom Federer defeated in Rotterdam after Del Potro saw off France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. After a close first set that ended in a tiebreak in favor of the Argentine, Del Potro ran away with the second set, breaking Tsonga two times in a row en route to a 7-6, 6-1 victory.