Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, reached his 19th straight grand slam quarter-final with an easy straight-sets victory over Italian seed Fabio Fognini at the Australian Open on Sunday.
The Serbian second seed coasted to a 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 victory over the 15th-seeded Fognini in one hour 33 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic, who is bidding for a fifth Australian title and his seventh grand slam title, stretched his unbeaten match run to 28 since his US Open triumph in New York last September.
He will face either Swiss eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka or 17th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the quarters.
In a one-sided contest, Djokovic broke Fognini’s service six times from 22 break point opportunities and hit 33 winners past the at times lackadaisical Italian.
Djokovic, who has been friends with Fognini since their junior playing days in Europe, maintained his focus as the Italian played to the crowd and performed with little intensity.
“At the end of the day we are both professionals and once we step on the court we want to win the match regardless who is across the net,” Djokovic said.
“Of course it is a bit different feeling when your opponent is a long-time friend and obviously I wanted to laugh at his jokes but on the other hand I didn’t want to lose any concentration and it was very important to stay focused until the end.”
Djokovic said he played a great match and did not allow Fognini to take control of the rallies. He now leads the Italian 7-0 in their encounters.
It will be Djokovic’s seventh straight quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open and extends his unbeaten run to 25 matches at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic is looking to become just the second man behind Roy Emerson to win four consecutive Australian Open titles.
Berdych and Ferrer enter quarters
Tomas Berdych trounced Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in a battle of big servers on Sunday to set up a quarter-final with Spanish hustler David Ferrer.
Berdych, wearing his trademark blue-and-white striped shirt, outgunned Anderson at a rowdy Margaret Court Arena with an impressive array of winners to extend his record to 10-0 over the South African beanpole.
Roared on by a noisy pocket of Czech supporters, the seventh seed sealed his fourth consecutive quarter-final at Melbourne Park in just under two hours but will face a far stiffer test against the tireless Ferrer, who delights in dragging opponents into attritional streetfights.
“Probably if I can compare right away all these four years, I think this year is going the best so far,” the 28-year-old Czech, a Wimbledon finalist in 2010, said in his courtside interview after blasting 38 winners and breaking Anderson five times.
“There is still a lot of petrol left which I’m definitely going to need in the next match so I’m really happy for that.
“Of course, it’s always great to pass the first week, especially the first week here in Melbourne with all the crazy weather.
“It’s nice to build up the confidence.”
The Australian Open is the only grand slam where the tall Czech has not reached at least the semi-finals, but he has arguably his best chance this year with the likes of top seed Rafa Nadal, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Roger Federer on the other side of the draw.
Ferrer, however, has long enjoyed a charmed life at Melbourne Park where he also reached the quarter-finals on Sunday for a fourth successive year by overhauling unseeded German Florian Mayer 6-7 (5) 7-5 6-2 6-1.
The draw has smiled favourably upon the super-fit 31-year-old, who tends to belt a succession of lower-ranked opponents before being sent crashing out when he faces any one of the ‘Big Four’.
Annihilated in last year’s semi-finals by triple defending champion Novak Djokovic, Ferrer actually beat Nadal in the 2011 quarter-finals but the 13-times grand slam champion was hampered by injury.
After being dragged into a tiebreak with unseeded Mayer, the Spaniard’s superior fitness gradually told and he finished the match full of running, blazing winners from all angles.
“In the third and the fourth (sets), I moved better, I did less mistakes, and I played with power with my shots,” Ferrer told reporters after making his ninth consecutive quarter-final in the grand slams.
Ferrer boasts a 7-4 winning record over the Czech but was well beaten at the season-ending World Tour championships.
“Of course, Tomas is a top-10 player. Always when I play with him, it’s very close,” he said.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
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