• ATP Tour

Federer outclasses Youzhny to set up Del Potro semi

ESPN staff
March 1, 2012
Roger Federer produced a serving masterclass against Mikhail Youzhny © Getty Images
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Roger Federer continued his serene progress at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, with the former world No. 1 crushing Mikhail Youzhny to reach the semi-finals.

Federer has approached the 2012 season with real intent and after winning in Rotterdam last month, is on track for a second title of the season. He breezed through the first two rounds and it was a similar story against Youzhny.

The Swiss has been totally dominant on serve and that was in evidence against Youzhny, as he won 20 of 25 points on serve in the opening set.

Youzhny came under constant pressure on serve and although he showed resilience, the one break of serve was enough for Federer to cruise through the opening set in 32 minutes.

Being in such dominant serving form allowed Federer to treat the crowd and at times he toyed with Youzhny, with drop shots proving a particular favourite for the Swiss. An early break of serve for Federer at the start of the second set sapped the spirit out of Youzhny who simply ran out of ideas on how to make an impact on his opponent.

With Federer in such threatening form, Youzhny was forced to go for the lines more often than he would have liked and as a consequence mistakes leaked from his racket. Youzhny staved off the threat of a second break of serve and briefly rallied in the sixth game, but Federer upped the tempo and served out for a 6-3 6-4 victory.

Next up for Federer is former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who claimed his second victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in as many weeks to reach the semi-finals. Del Potro, who beat Tsonga en route to the Open 13 title in Marseille last week, edged a tight opening set before streaking to a 7-6(1) 6-2 victory.

Elsewhere, at the Delay Beach International Championships, Andy Roddick battled past Denis Istomin to record a 6-4 7-5 victory. The fourth seed will be joined in the quarter-finals by Philipp Kohlschreiber, Kevin Anderson and Dudi Sela.

At the Abierto Mexicano tournament, top seed David Ferrer cruised into the semi-finals courtesy of a 6-2 6-4 victory over Pablo Andujar. Stanislas Wawrinka and Santiago Giraldo also progressed, as did Fernando Verdasco at the expense of second seed and defending champion Nicolas Almagro.

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