Federer prevails over Del Potro DUBAI – Top-ranked Novak Djokovic lost for the first time this season, falling to Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals of the Dubai Championships 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 tiebreaker 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 semifinals. “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. Ferrer closes in on Mexico title David Ferrer took a large stride toward back-to-back Mexican Open titles by winning his quarterfinal Thursday while his main rival and Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro lost. Top-seeded Ferrer cruised past another Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-4, while the other all-Spanish quarterfinal saw Almagro beaten 6-4, 7-6 (5) by No. 8 Fernando Verdasco. Verdasco trailed 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker but won six of the last seven points to close out the match against the second-seeded Almagro. Almagro broke Verdasco when he was serving for the match at 5-4, but the tiebreaker collapse kept him from reaching his second-consecutive final at Mexican Open, and fourth in the last five years. Ferrer's semifinal opponent will be Colombia's Santiago Giraldo who was a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 winner of Argentina's Carlos Berlocq. Verdasco will next play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who advanced by beating Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-1. In the women's quarterfinals, Roberta Vinci of Italy routed Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-0 and will play fellow Italian Sara Errani, who ousted seventh seed Estrella Cabeza Candela of Spain 6-4, 6-3. Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat Colombia's Mariana Duque-Marino 6-0, 6-4 and will next face Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, who won 6-2, 6-2 over Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova.
