Roger Federer produced a gutsy display to beat Martin Fucsovics 7-6(6) 6-4 in the quarter-final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The Swiss, 37, made 34 unforced errors during a below-par performance but he produced his best tennis at key stages to secure his place in the last four.
Fucsovics played very well in a first set that was interrupted by a 12-minute rain break. He controlled proceedings on his serve, matched Federer in most of the rallies and never looked overly troubled by the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
By contrast, the Swiss only produced high-quality tennis on a handful of points in the opener. This combination resulted in twelve holds of serve which took the set to a tie-break.
Nothing much changed at that stage. The Hungarian continued to challenge Federer all the way, and he was rewarded with two set points at 6-4.
However, he failed to win the first one on his own serve and then the Swiss gave him no chance with the second. Buoyed by this escape, Federer raised his game to claim the next two points and the set.
Federer edges close second set
The World No.7 made a much better start to the second set. He broke Fucsovics immediately and then played a couple of delightful points on serve to move 2-0 ahead.
To the crowd’s surprise, the Hungarian hit back immediately. He held easily and then played a sublime point to earn two chances to break. He drilled a forehand return down the line to force Federer into the corner and then sliced an unstoppable backhand into the other corner.
The shell-shocked Swiss then made an unforced error to hand Fucsovics the break which levelled the score at 2-2.
By now, the Hungarian had established a good rhythm on his serve and he held comfortably twice more to move into a 4-3 lead.
This enabled him to go after Federer’s serve, and he earned a break point with some aggressive hitting. However, the Swiss saved it and then responded by creating an opportunity to break the World No.35 in the next game.
Fucsovics held on, but he struggled to get out of the game as Federer repeatedly returned the score to deuce. To add to the drama, it started to rain again with the contest still in the balance.
The delay seemed to help the Swiss, as he quickly secured the break after the resumption and then held to earn a hard-fought victory.
