Federer through to Dubai quarter-finals
Federer came through in impressive style
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Wednesday, 28, Feb 2007 10:48
Roger Federer has qualified for the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open with a comfortable 7-5 6-3 victory over Italy's Daniele Bracciali.
Playing in his first tournament since winning the Australian Open at the start of the year, Federer showed that he had lost none of his touch with a straightforward win.
Bracciali did well to match Federer in the opening stages and even created break-point opportunities in the third and fifth games.
However the world number one held his nerve and eventually got a break of serve himself, just as the first set looked to be heading for a tiebreak.
Federer then broke the Italian at the start of the second set to take a 3-0 lead and he never relinquished that advantage, claiming the set 6-3 and with it the match.
Afterwards, Federer said: "I think it was a bit of a struggle for me in the beginning and I may have taken the first ten minutes to get adjusted with the conditions out there."
The Swiss star will now take on 19-year-old Serb Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final. Djokovic qualified by beating German Rainer Schuettler 7-6 6-3.
World number two Rafael Nadal did not find things as easy in his match with Igor Andreev. The Spaniard won the first set 6-2 but then lost the second before claiming the match in a third set tiebreak.
Nadal will now face world number 18 Mikhail Youzhny in his quarter-final match-up after the Russian beat Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-3.