Roger Federer moves ahead of Jimmy Connors, counting to 20..
The seven-time Dubai champion Roger Federer is through to the tenth final at one of his favorite tournaments following a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win over Borna Coric in an hour and seven minutes. Borna won the previous two encounters against Roger in Halle and Shanghai last year although he stood no chance in this one, just like four years ago in the semi-final here when he won three games in the first clash against Federer. The Swiss struggled to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, Fernando Verdasco and Marton Fucsovics in the previous rounds, improving his level against the Croat for a stellar performance, dropping 11 points on serve and never facing a break point.
The seven-time champion fired 21 winners and 13 unforced errors while Borna stood on a negative 11-14 ratio, never finding his rhythm and suffering four breaks after giving away half of the points behind the initial shot. Roger drew first blood in the third game after a forehand error from Borna, setting the tone for the rest of the match and moving 4-1 up after forcing a volley mistake from Coric at the net. The Croat saved two set points at 1-5 and that was all we saw from him in the opener, as Roger sealed it in the eighth game with a service winner after just 32 minutes.
With nothing left in the tank after three previous matches that he had to win in the deciding tie break, Coric got broken at the start of the second set as well after sending a forehand long, falling 5-2 down after a loose forehand in game seven. Serving for the triumph, Federer blasted four winners in the following game to advance into his 152nd ATP final and get the opportunity to avenge the fourth round Australian Open loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas and become only the second player in the Open era with 100 ATP titles after Jimmy Connors. In addition, this is the 20th consecutive season for Federer with at least one ATP final, proving his everlasting class once again and becoming the Open era leader, leaving Connors on 19.
Rafael Nadal and Ivan Lendl have gathered 16 years in a row with one ATP title match while it is interesting to see Gael Monfils on 15, never missing the opportunity to play in the final since 2005! Novak Djokovic, John McEnroe, Carlos Moya and Tomas Berdych stand on 14, with the Serb who should improve his tally in the years to come and challenge the players from the very top of the list. Back in 2000, Federer played in the final of Marseille and Basel and he was capable of reaching at least one even in his worst years, like in 2016 when he competed for the title in Brisbane in the opening week and staying on that one after a knee injury that sidelined him from the court after Wimbledon.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2NES8SX
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