Dubai has served as training territory, stomping grounds, and part-time home for Roger Federer, who owns an apartment in the city. Facing four set points in a second-set tie breaker today, Federer covered the court with the confidence of a man patrolling his own backyard. The four-time champion reeled off six straight points to show a strong-willed Juan Martin del Potro the door, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6), and advance to his seventh Dubai final.
Albert Einstein and Federer shared space on a homemade poster above the caption "Pure Genius" that a Federer fan waved frantically during dramatic points. The Swiss stylist's sustained brilliance on serve—he has not faced a break point or even been pushed to deuce on serve in four tournament wins this week—and his problem-solving skills in the dramatic tiebreakers were the keys to his ninth straight victory.
This match was a rematch of last month's Rotterdam final, which Federer swept indoors. This is a different del Potro—the 2009 U.S. Open champion was riding a seven-match win streak and striking the ball with much more conviction today—and the result was a quality duel in which both men dictated play on serve. Federer pounded down a pair of aces for his second love hold and a 6-5 first-set lead, and earned two set points in the next game. Del Potro denied the first, crunching consecutive forehands down the line, and erased the second with a smash, eventually forcing overtime.
Del Potro drew a short reply off serve, but paused for a split second, believing his serve landed long, before bashing a forehand sitter beyond the baseline. Del Potro told chair umpire Manuel Messina he thought the serve was out, but did not challenge—replay showed the serve had indeed landed long. That miscue gave Federer the mini break and a 2-0 lead that he soon stretched to 6-2 with a series of stinging forehands, but del Potro fought off three set points. Unfazed by the uprising, Federer stretched the big man with his serve then slashed a forehand winner to seal the 56-minute first set on his sixth set point. Federer, effective using the wide serve to set up his forehand, permitted just six points in his six service games in the set.
A Federer slice backhand struck the top of the net and bled over for triple break point in the third game of the second set, but del Potro dug in and fought off each one. The No. 8 seed saved six break points in all.
The depth of del Potro's daggers combined with Federer's sudden loss of control helped him build a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 lead in the eventual tiebreaker, and when Fedderer netted another backhand down the line, del Potro had four set points. But three errors and a Federer forehand amazingly evened it, setting up the longest rally of the match—a 28-shot thriller—that ended with del Potro's drive crashing into the top of the tape, where it lingered as if deciding where to drop, before settling on his side.
—Richard Pagliaro