Murray to face Federer in Dubai Open final

Andy Murray dumped three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a straight-sets success at the semi-final stage on Friday evening. The first five games went with serve until, at 3-2 up, the third-seeded Brit recovered from two consecutive aces and 30-0 behind to break the Serbian world number one with four back-to-back points. Murray then looked in real trouble in the very next game as a double fault and some sloppy strokes saw him slip to 15-40, when — once more — another cluster of four points together allowed the Scot to consolidate his previous break. Djokovic, who looked far from his imperious best here, then perhaps let the disappointment of not capturing those two break-back points linger long enough for Murray to break him again and impressively clinch the opener 6-2. That momentum carried through into the second set, where another break of Djokovic’s service in the second game let Murray surge out to 5-3 in front and serve for the match. He duly faltered at this point, letting Djokovic back into proceedings at 5-5, yet he soon regained his composure to hold his serve and break Djokovic’s for a fourth — and final — time to put the cap on a 6-2, 7-5 triumph. “In the first set, I served very well and was aggressive when I had my chances,” said Murray, who will be appearing in his first final at the Aviation Club in four attempts on Saturday night. “Then, at the beginning of the second, Novak started trying to go for more shots. “That’s why it was so important that the last couple of times we’ve played each other — in Rome and Australia — even though I lost those matches, I made it incredibly hard for him. I fought for every single point and made it really tough. “In the second set, he started going for more and making mistakes because it’s tough to always grind out matches. That was the difference. “It wasn’t an amazing standard. I still think I could’ve played better. I’m sure Novak feels the same as well, so that’s actually a good sign for me; that — even though I’m maybe not playing my best tennis — I could still win against him.” The dethroned Djokovic was gracious in the aftermath of this loss, which ended an 18-match winning streak at the Dubai Tennis Stadium stretching back to a last-four reverse against eventual champion Andy Roddick back in 2008. “I was fighting for it, but Andy played a great match. He was the better player,” he admitted. “He was serving really well and I made a lot of unforced errors when it was important. “But, this is sport. It’s normal that, in some matches, you cannot pull out your best when you need to. “It’s been a very successful tournament. I still feel that playing in the semi-finals this week is a good result in the circumstances. I lost to somebody that’s a top-quality player.