Berdych upsets Federer in semis

DUBAI— Defending champion Roger Federer said it might have been nerves that cost him a ticket to the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, losing in the semifinals to the big-serving Tomas Berdych, who moves on to face world No.1 and former three-time winner Novak Djokovic in the championship.

“Well, maybe, yeah,” Federer, the world No.2, said when asked to comment if he felt nervous and lost concentration when he had a chance to serve out the match in the tightly fought second set tiebreak of his 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 loss to the tournament third-seed.

Djokovic, curiously, rallied in the second set to claim a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win when Juan Martin Del Potro admitted losing concentration after being slapped a time violation by the um- pire for taking more than 25 seconds in his serve. The Argentine fourth-seed was facing break point at 30-40 and leading the set, 3-1, when the warning was made, provoking loud boos in the packed Center Court stadium. The crowd’s displeasure did not help calm del Potro as he responded to the call by committing an unforced error, smashing a forehand wide, which trimmed his lead to 3-2.

“We play very long rallies during the match, and he called me the warning before serve a break point down. It’s a very important point for the game, for the match. Maybe he doesn’t know about that,” said del Potro. “In that moment, if you call warning or if you do something different, you can lose the focus and that’s what happened with me. But it was my fault. I mean, I couldn’t manage that.”

Djokovic also said the warning might have been ill timed, saying the umpire could have first made an unofficial verbal warning.