Federer Masterclass Too Much For Gasquet

© Dubai Duty Free Tennis ChampionshipsRoger Federer will look to avenge his Australian Open semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic.

World No. 2 Roger Federer set up a blockbuster final with Novak Djokovic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after delivering a masterclass to dismiss Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-2 on Friday in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tennis tournament.

After relaxing by playing cards with his team for half an hour until 45 minutes before his match, the Swiss made the ideal start, breaking Gasquet in the first game. Federer then delighted the capacity crowd with an impressive array of attacking tennis that Gasquet had no answer to and broke serve again to clinch the first set - a stark contrast to Djokovic’s performance against Tomas Berdych earlier in the day, which the Serb had declared to be a “catastrophe”.

Contesting his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the season, Gasquet successfully employed more aggressive tactics in the second set to stay competitive with Federer and reaped the rewards in the eighth game as the Swiss yielded rare errors to offer up a break of serve. Serving to level the match, though, Gasquet backed off and his passive approach was exploited by the ruthless Federer, who reeled off three straight games to claim victory in 73 minutes.

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“I was very happy about my performance from the start,” reflected Federer. “I felt I was hitting the ball well. He's a great talent. He's one of the guys I really enjoy playing the most on tour. I thought tonight I played the right way. Obviously should have gone or could have gone three sets, but I was able to avoid that. Then he had a bit of a slump towards the end, which I was able to take advantage of.”

Looking ahead to the clash with Djokovic, whom he lost to in the Australian Open semi-finals last month, Federer commented, “This is not similar, because we actually didn't play the finals against each other in Australia. He's been playing well. He hasn't lost a match yet this season.

“Maybe a bit of an up and down performance here this last week [from Djokovic], [but] again his class showed. He made it to another final. He's obviously looking to get the hat-trick here; I hope to stop him and get my fifth. I'm excited about the match. I'm sure we're going to see great rallies.”

The 29-year-old Federer is bidding for his second ATP World Tour title of the season after winning his 67th tour-level trophy in Doha (d. Davydenko) in the first week. He is a four-time former winner in Dubai, having triumphed in 2003-2005 and 2007.