DUBAI // Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer remain on course for a showdown in a semi-final of the Dubai Duty Free Championships, with both making it to the quarter-finals last night, though in contrasting fashion.
Djokovic, the defending champion and a four-time winner, brushed aside Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-1, 6-3 in 57 minutes.
Five-time champion Federer, however, had to labour for his 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over the battling Czech veteran Radek Stepanek.
Federer’s next opponent will also be a Czech – Lukas Rosol, who knocked out No 8 seed Dmitry Tursunov yesterday with a 6-4, 7-6 win – while No 1 seed Djokovic will meet two-time finalist Mikhail Youzhny for a place in the last four.
Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead against Bautista-Agut, who had knocked Juan Martin Del Potro out of the Australian Open last month, and closed the first in only 23 minutes before cruising through the second as well, hitting 22 winners in the match to the Spaniard’s three.
“The positive thing is I feel my game is improving with every match,” said Djokovic, who had taken a break after his defeat to Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and returned to action only this week.
Federer also made a good start against a player he has beaten in 12 of 14 matches, but Stepanek fought back to take the second.
This was the first set the 35 year old had won against Federer since beating him at the Rome Masters in 2008. The Swiss had won eight of their duels since.
Stepanek then took a 2-0 lead in the third set before Federer turned it around with five games on the trot. Serving for the match, the Swiss dropped his serve for the fourth time in the match, but got the job done in the next game.
“It was a tough match because I was broken in all three sets in the first game,” Federer said. “Radek did a good job of putting the pressure on me and mixing it up. From that standpoint, it was a really difficult match and I’m very pleased to come through.”
The No 4 seed expects another tough game against Rosol, who knocked Rafael Nadal out at Wimbledon in 2012.
“Heavy hitting, big serving, taking huge cuts at the ball from the baseline on my serve,” Federer said. “That’s kind of what I see coming my way.
“I really remember his match vividly when he played Nadal at Wimbledon. I was watching it, like, I just couldn’t believe it, how he was serving at the end and how he was just running around. That’s kind of what I remember.”
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