Federer and Djokovic reach the quarters in Dubai

The top 2 seeds advance to the quarters to close up to a final showdown.

Federer

That was a superlative match by Roger. The Swiss dropped a set in the first round against Jaziri, but he showed he had the right tennis when he won the next 2 sets 6-0 6-2. That feat continued with Granollers that is tricky customer on fast courts.

Roger started in great fashion going often to the net and producing lots of “wow” shots. The Swiss didn’t drop a service game to break Granollers once for each set and finally win 6-3 6-4 in 77 minutes.

“I think I was sharper today,” said Federer. “I had a clearer plan. I knew what I could and couldn’t do.  So that automatically carves out sort of the things you might want to attempt. I was a bit more confident overall.  I knew what I wanted to do and I was able to do it, so I’m happy.” 

Roger Will play against Davydenko in the quarters. Head to Head is 18-2 for Roger

 

Djokovic

An almost perfect Nole wins against Bautista Agut 6-1 7-6 (4) in 90 minutes. The match was very smooth for Nole when he started to commit some uncharacteristic errors in the second set and give a chance to the Spaniard to break back and to bring the Serb to the tiebreak that Nole won at 4.

“I think I played really, really well and at a high level throughout most of the match,” said Djokovic.

“And then I had another poor game like yesterday towards the end, when I needed to close it out with a few match points. At 5-4 he served well, he fought his way through, and I have to give them credit for that. He’s a great competitor. I never played against him, so I didn’t know really what to expect. But generally I’m feeling quite confident on the court, which is a good thing.”

Nole will play Andreas Seppi (6-4 7-6 on Rosol) in the quarters. Head to head 10-0 for Djokovic.

 2013 ATP Dubai - Draw