viernes, 2 de marzo de 2012

Djokovic loses to Murray in Dubai semi-finals - IBNLive.com

Dubai: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic lost for the first time this season, falling to Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships on Friday.

The surprisingly one-sided victory ended Djokovic's 10-match winning streak that included the Australian Open title and his bid for a fourth successive Dubai title.

In the final, Murray will meet Roger Federer, who edged Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6). Del Potro missed four set-points in the second-set tie-breaker at 6-2, with Federer winning the last six points.

Federer will aim for his fifth Dubai title but first in five years.

Murray gave himself a much-needed boost of confidence after losing to Djokovic in five-sets in the Australian Open semi-finals.

"I think it's big for me that after Australia this year I've come back and had a win like tonight," Murray said. "Hopefully that will set me up well for the year. Confidence in tennis and almost any individual sport is so important. A win like tonight will do that no harm."

Coming into the match, Murray had lost seven of the last 11 matches against Djokovic. But the 24-year-old Briton made it look easy at the Aviation Club.

Murray broke the top-ranked Serb to go up 4-2 in the first set and then saved two break points to make it 5-2. His serve was his best weapon, with Murray winning 94 percent of his first service points in the first set and 85 percent overall.

Murray jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. But leading 5-3 and serving for the match, his opponent started taking more chances. Djokovic broke Murray for the first time to make it 5-4 and then tied it at 5. But Murray won the final two games, breaking Djokovic to win the match when the Serb sent a forehand long.

"The first set I served very well and was aggressive when I had my chances," Murray said. "In the second set, he started going for more and making mistakes because it's tough to always grind out matches. I think that was the difference."

Murray said he felt his nearly five-hour loss to Djokovic in Australia paid dividends on Friday, especially in the second set.

"The thing you learn after a match like that is how much you need to sort of suffer on the court to win matches like that, and also how important it is," he said.

"It wasn't just the Australian Open, but the match in Rome last year was brutal. It was over three hours and we finished really late in the evening," he said. "They're tough matches to lose, but because you gave 110 percent and fight for every single point, it makes it more difficult for Novak."

Djokovic paid tribute to Murray's aggressive play.

"I was fighting for it, but, you know, Andy played a great match," Djokovic said. "He was the better player today. He was serving really well. I made a lot of unforced errors when it was important. But, look, this is sport. It's normal that in some matches you can't pull out your best when you need to."

Djokovic denied that his four weeks off since winning the Australian Open — a time in which he collected several awards and went skiing with friends — influenced the outcome of the match. Still, the 24-year-old Serb appeared rusty in the early stages of the tournament, toiling to beat 72nd-ranked Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and 74th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky.

"I thought I've been doing well since Wimbledon last year. You know, I've been having a lot off-court activities since I became No. 1, but I have a team of people that controls it well," he said.

"Obviously there is a lot of temptations and a lot of things that you can enjoy. But it's normal," he said. "You know, you can't on one hand just be 100 percent of your life in the tennis. You are young. You have to enjoy life."

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