Milos Raonic – Canada Fan Blog an (unofficial) blog about tennis and Canadian player Milos Raonic

Djokovic three-peats in Dubai

I was right -- Nole showed up.

Reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, with a total match time of 71 minutes. He has now won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships three years in a row. Here are the stats from the match:

Djokovic got off to a great start in the match, breaking Federer's serve twice in the opening set. Novak's serve was impeccable in the first set, getting 85% of his first serves in and winning 15/17 of those first service points. His serve dropped off slightly in the second set allowing Roger to open up a 3-1 lead. At this point, it looked like Federer was stepping up his level of play just as Djokovic was doing the opposite.

But that lead didn't last long. Instead of Roger holding on to force a third and deciding set, Nole set off on a mad dash for the finish line and won 5 games in a row. I guess that qualifies as an impressive way to win a championship. More on Novak's hat-trick here. As the article suggests, Djokovic appears to be the man to beat on tour this year.

Can't argue with that.

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Meanwhile, in Mexico…

The semi-finals are set to go later today in Acapulco. First up, No.3 seed Nicolas Almagro (ESP) will take on Thomaz Bellucci (BRA). In the other semi, top seed David Ferrer (ESP) will face No.6 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR).

Of all the semifinalists, only Dolgopolov was able to win their quarterfinal match in straight sets. Dolgopolov upset fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) last night, 6-4, 7-6(6). Each of the other three quarterfinal matches went the distance, including Ferrer's match against Argentinian Juan Manco which lasted a whopping 2 hours and 43 minutes. For a complete breakdown of the matches, check out this article.

Alexandr Dolgopolov hasn't been pushed to 3 sets yet in this tournament, so he should be pretty fresh for his match with David Ferrer. Almagro is riding high on an impressive winning streak and is carrying a lot of momentum into his semifinal against Bellucci.

If I understand the Rogers Sportsnet schedule correctly, the first semi-final from Acapulco will air on Sportsnet One starting at 6:00PM ET, and the second semi will air on Sportsnet Pacific at 10:00PM ET. At least that's how it looks at the moment. Not certain if what they're showing on the Pacific channel is a replay of an early round because the description given on my cable guide says "Live, quarterfinal-round play". Guess we'll find out soon enough.

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1 vs. 2 final in Dubai

We have a big final to look forward to in the Dubai tournament tomorrow. The top two seeds in the draw, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, will face off in a repeat of their Australian Open semi-final match. Federer has won Dubai several times, but Djokovic has claimed the title the last two years in a row. Here's how this dream-final has come to be:

Tomas Berdych retired due to injury in the third set of his semi-final match against Djokovic. Berdych won the first set in a tiebreak, but Novak took the second set and was leading in the third before Berdych retired. Read what Nole had to say about the match here.

Except for a slight hiccup late in the second set, Federer was able to run over Gasquet in a straight sets win, 6-2, 7-5. Gasquet had a chance to serve for the second set when he broke Federer at 4-4 to take a 5-4 lead. But Roger decided not to let Richard take the match to a third set and broke Gasquet right back. From there it was business as usual for the top seed, breaking Gasquet again to win the match in just 73 minutes. Roger talks about the match and the upcoming final here.

I don't expect the slight shakiness displayed by Djokovic today to carry into tomorrow's final against Federer. Nole will show up. He's not just defending a title, he's going for a three-peat. And he's got to do it against a man who is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time. If nothing else, Novak can go into the match knowing that he beat Federer recently at the Australian Open. Also, Federer is not RoboCop. That's got to be a huge relief for Djokovic.

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Dolgopolov def. Wawrinka

Next to Milos Raonic, Alexandr Dolgopolov has shown himself to be one of the most exciting players to watch on the ATP tour this year. Dolgopolov has followed up his surprising run at the Australian open by reaching the finals in the Brasil Open (lost to Nicolas Almagro) earlier this month, and now he's through to the semi-finals in Acapulco. Here are the results of the Dolgopolov vs. Wawrinka:

Dolgopolov is quickly becoming known for more than just his unusually low ball toss and quick service motion. His ability to zip around the court and come up with brilliant shots seemingly out of nowhere is a real treat to watch. The amount of sidespin Dolgopolov is able to generate with his backhand slice is reminiscent of the tricky stylings of Boo from Mario Tennis. Yeah, I went there. Anyone who has played the game knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Game Boo.

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Final Four in Dubai

The top three seeds have made it through to the semi-finals for the first time in Dubai. Richard Gasquet came back from one set down to defeat Gilles Simon and earn himself a spot in the next round. Gasquet will face Roger Federer, whom he hasn't beaten in his last seven attempts. Considering how Federer has cruised through the draw this week (he hasn't dropped serve yet), I don't think that streak will be broken anytime soon. Read about this match here.

On the other side of the draw, we have Novak Djokovic taking on Tomas Berdych. This has the makings of a great match. Djokovic is on a roll since winning the Australian Open, and it seems like Berdych is always playing well lately. More about this matchup here.

Will we see a (1) Federer vs. (2) Djokovic final? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

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Is Federer RoboCop?

According to Roger himself, he isn't. A shocking admission, I know. Speculation had abounded for years concerning his almost mechanistic uber-fitness and laser-like focusing abilities. Turns out, Federer sometimes comes down with an acute case of Wandering Mind Syndrome. I guess when you've won 16 major titles, it's hard to keep your head in the game in the smaller tournaments. No offense, Granollers.

But all joking aside, both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are through to the quarterfinals in Dubai. Federer had leisurely match today against Marcel Granollers (ESP), winning 6-3, 6-4. The same cannot be said for Nole who was tested in an exciting 3-set match against model/tennis player Feliciano Lopez. After handily winning the second set by a margin of two service breaks, Lopez was unable to keep that momentum going in the third and lost to Djokovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

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