2007 Dubai Tennis Championships

Dubai, UAE: In a week that he broke the long-standing record of Jimmy Connors by remaining as the world number one for 161 consecutive weeks, it was fitting that Roger Federer should regain the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open title that he surrendered in 2006 to Rafael Nadal.

His opponent in the final was unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who had upset Nadal 7-6(5) 6-3 in the quarter-finals. That was not as big a surprise as it might seem, bearing in mind that the Spaniard had not won a title since the French Open and had not even reached a final since Wimbledon. Youzhny, meanwhile, had won Rotterdam a few days earlier, and he had beaten Rafa when they last played, at the 2006 US Open.

Federer, though, did what Federer almost always does, and that is win. The score was a straight-forward 6-4 6-3, and it gave the Swiss master his fourth Dubai title in five years.

“I think the matches were extremely tough here this week for me,” said Federer. “I thought actually all my opponents played very good against me, so to come through as I did against Mikhail, I think that’s to be rated very high.

“I think he’s playing very well and I really played extremely well at the right moments once again. To come through and get the title back from losing it last year, it’s a great feeling.”

As Federer suggested, it wasn’t an easy week for the eventual champion. He dropped his first set of the year in his opening match against Kristian Pless, and another against talented Serb teenager Novak Djokovic. The set he conceded to Djokovic was especially frustrating, as it came after he had held two match points. On the second, Hawkeye – the revolutionary new line-calling system – showed a ball that had been called in, giving Federer the match, was in fact out. Federer then went on to lose the set when a ball hit the net cord and fell out.

“The ball was out, but it’s hard to accept, match point,” said Federer. “It was a bit of a pity it went three and it had a bitter taste at the end with the netcord and Hawkeye. Maybe I should have closed it out earlier and not got to that position.”

Federer then had to overcome Germany’s Tommy Haas in the semis, and did so 6-4 7-5. As the score suggests it wasn’t easy, because Haas was on a roll after winning the title in Memphis the previous Sunday.

One of the most dramatic and enjoyable matches of the week came in the opening round, and it was a battle worthy of the final as Nadal took on charismatic Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Both players produced some spectacular tennis at times, before Nadal came through 3-6 6-2 6-3. In the end, Baghdatis said a lack of self-belief had made a difference.

“I think the problem is that I still don’t believe I can beat these guys, Rafa and Roger. It’s not a matter of tennis, it’s a matter of I see them too far from me,” he said.

As well as Nadal’s defeat against Youzhny, there were a couple of other upsets during the week, with fourth seed Tommy Robredo falling to former Dubai champion Fabrice Santoro in the first round, and third seed Nikolay Davydenko losing to Olivier Rochus in the second. Davydenko had also come close to losing against Moroccan qualifier Younes El Aynaoui in the first round, edging through 6-7(2) 7-5 7-5. Sixth seed Tomas Berdych also didn’t get beyond the second round, losing to Youzhny.

There were more thrills during the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open. It is a measure of the strength of the Dubai Tennis Championships that although Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams had to withdraw, the tournament still lived up to all expectations. Certainly they would have been an asset, but there were plenty of other top stars to take their place.

The chances of both Justine Henin and Amelie Mauresmo, the top two seeds, reaching the final were slim. Henin was playing only her second tournament of the year, and Mauresmo had to make the trip from an indoor tournament in Belgium, where she won the Antwerp title and a $1.3 million diamond-encrusted racquet.

But reach the final they did, although neither had an easy path. Henin was almost caught cold by an opponent she might never have heard of and certainly had never met, 16-year old Tamira Paszek. It took her two hours 28-minutes to win 4-6 7-5 6-1, but she faced defeat when the Austrian qualifier held a break point to lead the second set 6-5.

“I was pretty close to losing that match,” Henin admitted. “She played very well and doesn’t have the kind of game that I like so much. I just kept a good attitude and that was the key for me today. She tried to take her chance and did it very well, and she pushed me to my limits.”

Martina Hingis also had a tough opening match, against Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues, taking two hours 40-minutes to win 5-7 6-3 6-4. The match finished at 1.30am, and fourth seeded Hingis was not amused at having to come back the next afternoon to play Jelena Jankovic. After a close first set in that match, the Swiss former champion understandably faded and bowed out 7-6(3) 6-2.

Sixth seed Patty Schnyder, too, struggled to win her opening two matches, edging past Francesca Schiavone 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3 and then needing five match points to finish off Alicia Molik 4-6 6-2 6-4. Then she came up against third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarters, losing that one 6-3 6-4.

Daniela Hantuchova was seeded eight, and after giving up just four games to Elena Vesnina she was stretched to the limit by Maria Kirilenko before reaching the quarters with a 2-6 6-4 7-6(4) victory. Mauresmo was waiting, and like many other matches during the week, that battle went far beyond two hours before the Frenchwoman emerged with a 6-3 3-6 6-4 win.

While that match had been tough, Mauresmo had an easier time in the semi-finals when Jelena Jankovic strained her ankle towards the end of the first set and retired after losing it 6-2.

Henin, though, struggled again as she faced Kuznetsova. The Russian swept the first set and was level at 4-4 in the second before Henin stepped up a gear and went on to claim a 1-6 6-4 6-0 victory.

“It was strange,” said Kuznetsova. “I kind of lost it. I started very well and ended up bad, and she was the opposite. She got so much into it and played unbelievable, and me, I got worse.”

And so to the final, where Henin extended her astonishing record in Dubai to four titles in four attempts, winning 6-4 7-5 to earn the 30th title of her career.

Although Mauresmo displayed flashes of brilliance, she was reduced to playing catch-up after she was broken in the opening game thanks to a flowing backhand pass from Henin. Henin earned a second break for 4-1, but Mauresmo then began to compete more aggressively. She hit a forehand winner to pull one break back in the next game and had three break points to level at 4-4.

But Henin played her way out of trouble and, although she failed to convert a set point in the next game, the Belgian went on to serve out the set to love.

“That was the key of the first set for sure, and probably of the match,” Henin said. “She was coming back in the match very strongly and I was starting to feel a little bit nervous. But I took the opportunities. I was very aggressive but I was patient when I had to be.”

Mauresmo admitted that it had been one match too far and that she had begun to tire.

“I said at the beginning of the week it was going to be difficult to get through to the end. I almost got there. It was only the matter of a few points here and there. She just played some great shots at the right time.”

As the dust settled, Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of tournament organisers Dubai Duty Free, could look back with great satisfaction on two weeks of spectacular tennis, drama, upsets and triumph.

“Once again we have been able to watch and enjoy many of the best players in the world, and some of the tennis has been simply spectacular,” he said. “There have been sell out crowds over the two weeks and the atmosphere on centre court has been incredible.”

The final word went to champion Roger Federer, who enjoys Dubai so much he spends much of his time here.

“In places like this here in the Middle East when you do something you do it properly,” he said. “The tournament has a great transport service, and they have all these ladies helping us out with any problems we have in terms of reservations or flights, practise courts, stringing. They’re always there to help.

“I think this is why some of the players come to play here. Of course the ranking points are very high here and so is the prize money, but I still believe you need a good event and a nice place. That’s what Dubai offers to us players and why we keep coming back every year.”

For further information: John Rynehart, Promoseven Sports Marketing,
(T) +9714 3210008; (M) +971 50 55 96795; john.rynehart@promoseven.com