Five-time winner Roger Federer needed a late-match surge to get past troublesome a Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-7(7-4), 6-3 and enter the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free tennis championships on Wednesday. The Swiss next plays another Czech, Lukas Rosol, who beat Russian eighth seed Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
Federer won the opening set in 33 minutes but got caught out in the second by Stepanek as he dropped his first set in nine meetings (2007) against the veteran.
The seed went down 0-2 in the final set but eventually earned a double break on Stepanek. But a disaster game — two double-faults and a pair of squandered match points, pulled the Czech to 3-5. Federer closed it out a game later on his fourth winning chance.
“I didn’t have a great start, but it feels good to win these kind of matches,” said Federer, 39-5 in Dubai. “It was a difficult second round, he played tough and mixed up his shots.”
Meanwhile, India’s Somdev Devvarman crashed out after a 6-3, 7-5 defeat against fellow wild card Malek Jaziri in the second round.
Devvarman had three break chances in the first set but converted none while dropping his serve twice. The second set was no different as he could cash in on only two of the seven break chances. He lost his serve thrice.
While serving to stay in the match, Devvarman saved two match points but netted a forehand on the third and Jaziri raised his arms up in joy. Devvarman will collect 45 ranking points and $24,475 as prize money.
The results:
At Dubai: ATP Dubai Duty Free Open: Second round: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Nikolay Davydenko, walkover; Malek Jaziri bt Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 7-5; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3; Lukas Rosol bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6(4); Tomas Berdych bt Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-1; Roger Federer bt Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3; Mikhail Youzhny bt James Ward 6-1, 7-6(3).
Doubles: First round: Mahesh Bhupathi & Denis Istomin bt Oliver Marach & Florin Mergea 4-6, 6-3, 16-14
At Sao Paulo: ATP Brazil Open: First round: Potito Starace bt Alejandro Gonzalez 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Martin Klizan bt Guilherme Clezar 6-4, 6-3; Paolo Lorenzi bt Pere Riba 7-5, 6-3; Rogerio Dutra Silva bt Guillermo Garcþa-Lopez 1-6, 7-5, 6-3; Andreas Haider-Maurer bt Julian Reister 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; Albert Montanes bt Aljaz Bedene 6-2, 6-2; Federico Del Bonis bt Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-2; Albert Ramos bt Gastao Elias 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Thomaz Bellucci bt Santiago Giraldo 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
At Acapulco: ATP/WTA Acapulco Open: Men: First round: David Ferrer bt Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-3; Feliciano Lopez bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-2; Kevin Anderson bt Stephane Robert 6-2, 7-6(7); Ivo Karlovic bt John Isner 7-6(4), 7-6(5); Aleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. bt Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-2.
Ernests Gulbis bt Lu Yen-Hsun 6-1, 6-1; David Goffin bt Lukasz Kubot 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Marcos Baghdatis bt Miguel Ingel Reyes 6-2, 6-4; Grigor Dimitrov bt Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 6-1; Gilles Simon bt Tim Smyczek 6-1, 6-2; Donald Young bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3; Joao Sousa bt Adrian Mannarino 1-6, 6-2, 6-2; Andy Murray bt Pablo Andujar 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Women: First round: Dominika Cibulkova bt Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-4; Yanina Wickmayer bt Lesya Tsurenko 7-6(4), 6-4; Victoria Duval bt Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-4; Aleksandra Wozniak bt Ashleigh Barty 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-2; Shuai Zhang bt Madison Keys 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Julia Gorges bt Marcela Zacarþas 6-0, 6-1; Kaia Kanepi bt Jana Cepelovà 6-1, 3-6, 6-2; Sharon Fichman bt Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3; Caroline Garcia bt Lourdes Domþnguez 6-4, 7-6(6); Lara Arruabarrena bt Galina Voskoboeva 6-2, 6-4; Eugenie Bouchard bt Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-2.
