Dubai, United Arab Emirates (SportsNetwork.com) – Six-time champion Roger
Federer was an easy winner, while Croatian teenager Borna Coric ousted former
runner-up Andy Murray in Thursday’s quarterfinal action at the $2 million
Dubai Tennis Championships.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 great Federer was handling former top-10
Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1 after one set when Gasquet retired due to a back
injury on Day 4.
The Wimbledon runner-up Federer’s semifinal opponent on Friday will be the
rising 18-year-old Coric, who whipped the third-seeded Murray 6-1, 6-3 on the
hardcourts at Aviation Tennis Centre.
It marked the lucky loser Coric’s second career win against a top-10 player,
after he converted on four-of-eight break-point chances on Thursday. The world
No. 84 beat Rafael Nadal en route to the Swiss Indoors semifinals back in
October.
“[It’s] one of the biggest wins, for sure,” said Coric after taking out the
two-time Grand Slam champion Murray. “I was just trying to maintain my level,
stay in the rallies as long as I can, which I was doing really well. I was
also running very well.
“I’m still a little bit struggling with the best players when they are playing
really good obviously. I always need to be on 100 percent, and when I’m on 100
percent, mentally [and] also tennis wise, then I think I can play with them.”
Last month’s Australian Open runner-up Murray was the 2012 Dubai runner-up to
Federer.
“He didn’t make many errors,” Murray said of Coric. “He played very solid and
he moved well. I made way too many mistakes from the beginning of the match
right through to the end, early in rallies, rushing points.”
Another quarterfinal result saw fourth-seeded two-time Dubai runner-up Tomas
Berdych sneak past Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Berdych lost in
the last two finals here, including last year versus the amazing Federer.
This year’s Dubai champ will earn $505,000.
