Roger Federer was one point away on three different occasions from making Saturday’s Dubai final a battle between the top two players in the world. Instead, it will be Tomas Berdych going up against Novak Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych will be going head-to-head for the 14th time in their careers when they square off in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday evening.
Djokovic is dominating their past history history 12-1, including 11-0 on hard courts. Berdych’s lone victory over the current world No. 1 came in the 2010 Wimbledon semifinals. Djokovic has since won 10 in a row, having most recently prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of this year’s Australian Open.
Just over a month later, Berdych is playing even better tennis than he was Down Under. The sixth-ranked Czech delivered Davis Cup heroics against Switzerland and he had three championship points last week in Marseille before finishing runner-up to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Berdych flipped the script on Friday in the Dubai semifinals, saving three match points before upsetting Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4. That victory was preceded by straight-set routs of Rajeev Ram, Tobias Kamke, and Dimitry Tursunov.
Nobody, however, is hotter than Djokovic right now. The top-seeded Serb has won 17 consecutive matches dating back to last fall and he has not come close to losing one this week. He opened with victories over Viktor Troicki, Roberto Bautista-Agut, and Andreas Seppi then took care of Juan Martin Del Potro in a more entertaining encounter on Friday.
Berdych is a far more improved player since enduring many of his 12 career losses to Djokovic, but the hard-court history is still daunting and will be tough to overcome. Furthermore, Djokovic owns 35 career ATP titles and he is looking for his fourth triumph in Dubai. Berdych is hoping to level his finals record at 9-9. All signs point to a victory for the favorite, but it won’t be easy.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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