Tag: Federer

DUBAI - Defending champion Novak Djokovic won his third consecutive title at the Dubai championships when he defeated top seed Roger Federer 6-3 6-3 in just 71 minutes on Saturday. It is the 20th title of his career and his second of the year after the Australian Open in January.
The second seeded Serbian is the only player apart from four-time champion Federer to have won the title three times, following Federer victories in 2003-5 and 2007. He has now won 15 straight matches

Dubai - Roger Federer earned a chance of regaining one of his titles, and an early revenge upon Novak Djokovic, by reaching the final of the Dubai Open on Friday.
Federer, without a Grand Slam title for the first time in eight years, overcame Richard Gasquet, the gifted Frenchman who once beat him as a teenager, by 6-2, 7-5 to earn a second meeting with Djokovic inside four weeks. It was the Serbian who beat the Swiss maestro last month in Melbourne before making off with his

DUBAI - Roger Federer remains on course for a fifth title at the Dubai Championships after he downed a battling Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-4 in the quarter-finals. The Swiss player was broken for the first time this week in the opening game of the match, but broke back immediately. He never looked back as his court coverage and precision proved too much for his Ukrainian opponent, who came into the match ranked at 43 in the world and without a win against a player in the top 10. Djokovic

MELBOURNE - An inspired Novak Djokovic shocked defending champion Roger Federer in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday to leave the Swiss without a grand slam title for the first time in eight years. The third-seeded Serbian overpowered the four-times champion 7-6 7-5 6-4 in three hours of intense, high quality tennis to reach a second Melbourne final, where he will play Briton Andy Murray or Spaniard David Ferrer.
Although Federer and Djokovic both cautioned against the

MELBOURNE - Two of Novak Djokovic's greatest wins have been in Grand Slams against Roger Federer, and the in-form Serb gets his chance for another career milestone in Thursday's Australian Open semis.
The world number three has beaten the 16-time major-winner in two Slam semi-finals, last year at the US Open and at the 2008 Australian Open on the way to winning his maiden major title. Although Federer leads their matches 13-6 overall, it is those two defeats that stick in the

MELBOURNE - Roger Federer made hard work of reaching his 27th consecutive grand slam quarter-final at the Australian Open on Sunday but it looked like a short shift after Francesca Schiavone's titanic tussle with Svetlana Kuznetsova.
French Open champion Schiavone took a gruelling four hours and 44 minutes to edge her Russian friend 6-4 1-6 16-14 in a Hisense Arena thriller and claim a place in the last eight after the longest women's grand slam singles match in the modern era.

MELBOURNE - Defending champion Roger Federer got back on track with a record 57th win at the Australian Open Friday as Justine Henin crashed and Venus Williams was forced out with a painful muscle injury.Men's third seed Novak Djokovic, women's number one Caroline Wozniacki and Russian Maria Sharapova also reached the last 16 as temperatures soared at Melbourne Park. But Williams departed in dramatic circumstances as she screamed in pain and limped to her chair after just one game of

MELBOURNE - Swiss tennis great Roger Federer Friday warned players not to get involved in match-fixing, as Italian media reported a new investigation.
The world number two said match-fixers angered him as much as dope cheats, as they threatened the sport's integrity and could turn off fans.
"I think it's just unacceptable when athletes, players, whatever you want to call it, try to do things like this or play with the integrity of the sport," he said.
"I don't know if I

MELBOURNE - Reigning champion Roger Federer was taken to five gripping sets by French nemesis Gilles Simon Wednesday before scraping into the Australian Open's third round.
The world number two, defending his only remaining Grand Slam crown, was pegged back from two sets up before scoring his first-ever win over Simon, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, to stay on course for his fifth Open title. It was a desperately close call for the 29-year-old, who holds a record 16 Grand Slam titles

MELBOURNE - Defending champion Roger Federer and 2008 winner Novak Djokovic roared into the Australian Open's second round on Monday, as Venus Williams eclipsed her women's rivals on day one.
In cool and cloudy conditions, Federer was irresistible as he banished 97th-ranked Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, while Djokovic was also in destructive mood against Spain's Marcel Granollers. Federer, the world number two, broke Lacko's serve seven times and hit a stream of 37 winners

MELBOURNE - Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have history against them as they strive to win the season's opening major at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
World number one Nadal is bidding to become the first man in 42 years to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously, but the 'Rafa Slam' is the subject of some debate.
Australian legend Rod Laver, who twice accomplished a calendar Grand Slam in 1962 and 1969, contends that what Nadal is pursuing cannot be technically

MELBOURNE - Roger Federer's emphatic Qatar Open win has propelled him to joint favourite for the Australian Open alongside the ailing Rafael Nadal, an online bookmaker said Monday. The reigning Open champion's odds have firmed to 2/1, according to sportsbet.com.au, while top-ranked Nadal's lengthened slightly after he complained of illness. Since the weekend, Federer's odds had shortened from 9/4 to 2/1 while Nadal's odds stretched from 9/5 to 2/1, said spokesman Haydn Lane. On

DOHA - Roger Federer hammered out his determination to hang on to his Australian Open title when he brushed aside Nikolay Davydenko to regain the Qatar Open crown on Saturday.
Last year the Russian beat the Swiss master on the way to the title.
This time world number two Federer overwhelmed the defending champion, who had put out top seed Rafael Nadal in Friday's semi-finals, 6-3, 6-4 to complete the capture of the trophy without dropping a set. He was assertive,

DOHA - Roger Federer reached his eighth successive semi-final since losing his Wimbledon title six months ago, when he outplayed Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-2 in the Qatar Open here on Thursday. Even though the Grand Slam record-holder was still not at his best after the close season lay-off, passing up seven break points before breaking through for 4-2 in the second set, there were nevertheless signs of the improved form he has enjoyed most of the time since his association with coach Paul

DOHA - Second seed Roger Federer reached the Qatar Open quarter-finals on Wednesday with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over compatriot and close friend Marco Chiudinelli.
The 2005 and 2006 Doha champion fought back from a 4-5 deficit in the tie-break and then saw qualifier Chiudinelli lead 3-1 in the second set before he recovered to eventually take victory with a smash. French third seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga, making his comeback from a left knee injury, moved into the last eight with a

DOHA - Roger Federer began the season which he hopes will see him add to his record 16 Grand Slam titles with a fighting win and a finish which took the roof off in the first round of the Qatar Open.
The tennis legend was forced to save three successive set points to get past Thomas Schoorel, an enterprising 21-year-old qualifier from The Netherlands, but then concluded the match amidst laughter and tumultuous applause for a shot which should get endless on-line video replays.

SYDNEY - One of sport's great and enduring rivalries resumes with the battle for supremacy between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer dominating the new tennis season.
The 2011 campaign got underway this week in Australia, India, Qatar and New Zealand with the first Grand Slam of the season starting in Melbourne on January 17.
Nadal is unchallengeable at the top of the ATP rankings, some 3,305 points clear of Federer, after a superb 2010 season when he took the world number one