Nole, Fed cruise into Dubai Open last four
Nadal eases into Acapulco quarters
DUBAI, Feb 28, (Agencies): World number one Novak Djokovic and defending champion Roger Federer moved closer to a mouthwatering Dubai Open final showdown when they cruised into the last four on Thursday.
Australian Open winner Djokovic extended his unbeaten 2013 sequence to eleven with a trampling 6-0, 6-3 success over Andreas Seppi which suggested that he will be very hard to stop.
Federer was equally impressive, needing just 54 minutes to beat Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2, firing five aces in the process.
Djokovic’s dashing court coverage and imposingly aggressive service returns so much intimidated Seppi, a talented ground-stroker, that the seventh-seeded Italian won only three points on his service in a morale-eroding 24-minute first set. 3,000 miles from Marseille where he contested the final on Sunday.
There he beat Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 61 in the semis.
On Thursday, he beat the Russian wild card entry again, just as solidly, by 6-3, 62.
Berdych also looked more comfortable than earlier during this week.
“I am making the transition,” Berdych said, referring to the change from cold European indoor courts to the warm and sometimes windy hard courts of the coastal resort in Dubai.
His improvement appeared to make him relish another meeting with Federer, whom he has beaten five times in 16 tries — including at last year’s US Open.
Rafael Nadal eased into the quarterfinals of the Mexican Open on Wednesday, continuing his comeback from the knee injury that sidelined the 11time Grand Slam champion for seven months.
Nadal, playing in his third tournament in four weeks after his lengthy layoff, needed one hour and 16 minutes to get past Argentine qualifier Martin Alund 60, 6-4.
Nadal pocketed the first set in less than half an hour, saving all three of the break points he faced in the contest and winning 26 of his 33 first service points.
The convincing victory came a fortnight after Nadal needed three sets to get past Alund in the semi-finals of the clay court tournament in Sao Paulo, where Nadal went on to win his first title since last year’s French Open.
A week before that he fell in the final at Vina del Mar in Chile to Horacio Zeballos.
“The first set I played at a very high level,” Nadal said. “I started strong without any errors. In the second set Martin played at a high level and made it hard to close it out.
“I’m happy to be in the quarter-finals.”
Second seed and defending champion Hsieh Su Wei of Taiwan overcame fatigue, leg cramps and two opponents Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the rain-delayed BMW Malaysian Open.
Hsieh, who ranks world number 23 and is hoping to become the first player to successfully defend the title, started her day by beating Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 in a match held over from Wednesday.
She was leading 4-3 when the match was halted Wednesday due to rain. She needed another two hours to complete her first round match Thursday and was back on court three and a half hours later to face Zhang Shuai of China.
Hsieh, who needed two medical times against Nara, was energised by her break and romped past Zhang 6-3, 6-3 in 73 minutes.
The 27-year-old will now face wildcard entry Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who stormed into the quarterfinals when she crushed Duan Ying-Ying of China 6-1, 64.
The bubbly blonde, who is known as the Lady Gaga of tennis after attending the 2011 pre-Wimbledon party in a dress made of tennis balls created by the popstar’s designer Alex Noble, hardly broke a sweat as she brushed aside her opponent.
Venus Williams beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the Brazil Tennis Cup on Wednesday.
Williams converted on her fourth match point to beat the 96th-ranked Muguruza in 2 hours, 12 minutes on hard court at the southern Brazilian city of Florianopolis.
The American had squandered three match points at 5-4 after getting back on serve late in the third set, but finally closed out the match with her first break point of the final game.
The 20th-ranked Williams is the topseeded player in Brazil. She is playing her first tournament since losing to Maria Sharapova in the third round of the Australian Open in January.
Williams will now play fifth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who defeated qualifier Beatriz Garcia Vidagany of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. The 52nd-ranked Rybarikova saved 13 of the 21 break opportunities she conceded in the match that lasted 2 hours, 33 minutes.
Earlier Wednesday, Timea Babos of Hungary beat fourth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-1, 6-2. The 133rd-ranked Babos broke Scheepers’ serve five times. Scheepers, ranked 60th in the world, had eight break points but converted only one of them.
Babos will play Monica Niculescu of Romania, who easily beat defeated Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia 6-1, 6-1.
Olga Puchkova of Russia continued her remarkable run with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Caroline Garcia of France. Puchkova upset third-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the first round.
Puchkova will play the quarterfinals against Jana Cepelova of Slovakia, who beat eighth-seeded Annika Beck of Germany 7-6 (6), 6-4.
Melinda Czink of Hungary, who eliminated second-seeded and 34th-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in the first round, defeated Brazilian Bia Haddad Maia 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) to set up a quarterfinal match against Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, who cruised past Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-2, 6-1.