ATP World Tour No. 3 Novak Djokovic rallied from a one-set deficit to oust No. 2 Roger Federer 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to reach his second final at the Sony Ericsson Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Miami.
In Sunday's final Djokovic will try to halt a two-match losing streak against Andy Murray, who defeated Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
In a rare outburst of frustration, Federer smashed his racquet after netting a forehand to lose the first point of the third game of the final set. Federer soon went down a double break at 0-4 when he lost serve for the sixth time in the match.
"I was just frustrated," Federer said in his post-match media conference of smashing his racquet. "Didn't feel great. It's just a natural thing I did."
Including his five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in last year's Wimbledon final, Federer has won just six of his past 16 matches that have gone to a deciding set.
Federer, a two-time Miami champion, enjoyed the better start to the semi-final encounter, breaking serve in the fourth game to lead 3-1 as Djokovic placed a backhand wide. The Swiss then moved into a commanding 5-1 lead courtesy of two successive backhand errors from Djokovic, against whom he had a 7-2 match record coming into the clash.
In serving for the first set, Federer struggled with rhythm and timing and a poor game from the former World No. 1 allowed Djokovic back into the set at 5-2. Although Federer would go on to serve out the one-set lead at the second time of asking, it was the increasing errors in the Swiss’ game and his struggle to cope with the windy conditions that were to set the tone for the remainder of the match.
In blustery conditions on Stadium court, Federer’s miss-timing of the ball – especially on his forehand - became more prominent and the right-hander surrendered his serve at the beginning of the second set as Djokovic took advantage to strike a blistering forehand return. Djokovic also encountered more errors than normal in his game and a double fault from the Serbian handed Federer a foothold in the second set at 3-2. However, in a lengthy sixth game Djokovic immediately regained his advantage on his fifth break point opportunity as Federer’s forehand once more landed long of the baseline. Another error-ridden game from the Swiss at 2-5 saw Djokovic capitalise to level the match as Federer committed his 12th unforced error of the set with a forehand wide.
Djokovic continued to be the more consistent player in the third set and his tighter tennis in the breezy conditions was rewarded early as he broke Federer in the second game when the Swiss hit a backhand wide. Frustration boiled over for Federer in the third game after another unforced error and, despite the crowd’s increasing support for him, he then went on to lose his serve for the second time to trail 0-4.
As Federer continued to play wayward tennis, Djokovic struggled to keep his concentration and two double faults in the sixth game saw Federer regain one of the breaks as he attacked at 30-40 and a backhand volley registered him on the score board at 4-1. A concerted effort from Federer to reign in his errors and frustration saw the Swiss dig deep to hold his next two service games for 3-5, but Djokovic held strong in serving for the match and closed out victory as Federer sliced a backhand long after one hour and 46 minutes.
“I definitely struggled with my timing, so it was a tough finish for me,” admitted Federer. “I thought I was playing okay in the first set, but it was always going to be tough in the wind. I already felt it in the warm up. It was coming across the court. I struggled heavily today. It was tough.”
Djokovic had lost his past two meetings against Federer in the semi-finals at the US Open and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Monte-Carlo last year. His most recent victory over the Swiss had come in the 2008 Australian Open semi-finals, when he went on to win his first Grand Slam championship with victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the title match.
The 21-year-old Djokovic is chasing his second Sony Ericsson Open title after racing to victory in 2007 without dropping a set, including victories over No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 12 Andy Murray and qualifier Guillermo Canas in the final. The Belgrade native has bounced back in Miami this season after suffering a shock exit to World No. 122 Kevin Anderson in the first match of his title defence last year.
Djokovic is through to his second ATP World Tour final of the season after winning his 12th tour-level title in Dubai (d. Ferrer) last month. After suffering a surprise first-round loss to Ernests Gulbis in Brisbane at the start of the season, Djokovic has rallied to reach the quarter-finals or better in his next six tournaments and improve to a 22-7 match record on the season.
The Monte-Carlo resident is looking to win his fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title from his seventh final. He has won at least two of the coveted titles in each of the past two years, winning the Indian Wells (d. Fish) and Rome (d. Wawrinka) titles in 2008 after winning his first two trophies at Miami and Montreal (d. No. 3 Roddick, No. 2 Nadal, No. 1 Federer) in 2007.
The 27-year-old Federer suffered his first semi-final exit at the Sony Ericsson Open (3-1 record). He finished runner-up in 2002 (l. to Agassi in four sets) before winning back-to-back titles in 2005 (d. Nadal in five sets) and 2006 (d. Ljubicic in three tie-breaks). He dropped to a 34-9 event record.
Federer was bidding to reach his second final of the season after finishing runner-up at the Australian Open – when Rafael Nadal denied the Swiss the chance to tie Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14 Grand Slam championships in a five-set victory. It is the third semi-final loss of the season for Federer, who lost out to Andy Murray in Doha and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
(From website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_2919.ASP)
