Murray Beats Four-time Champion Federer at Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai, UAE, March 3rd, 2008: Roger Federer was beaten 6-7 6-3 6-4 by Andy Murray in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday, the first time he has lost a first round match since the summer of 2004.
It was always going to be a difficult match for the four-time Dubai champion, with the 20-year old Scot ranked 11 in the world this week but unseeded. But few would have predicted that Murray would get through the entire three-set match without facing a break point.
He might have won the first set, after leading 5-2 in the tiebreak and then holding a set point at 6-5. But he made a weak return, and Federer went on to take the tiebreak 8-6.
There was only one break point in the second set, against Federer, which Murray converted with a fine crosscourt forehand to lead 4-2. With Federer looking increasingly uncomfortable in the third set, the Swiss world number one held off two break points to hold for 1-0 but then dropped his serve at love to fall behind 3-2.
“Tough match, obviously,” said Federer, who had not played since the Australian Open. “It was always going to be a tough draw. I knew that from the start. He’s played many matches already this season whereas obviously I come in a little bit cold.
“My expectations are not sky-high at this point. Obviously I haven’t played much so you don’t go in with any expectations, actually. You hope to get past the first round, no matter if it’s a guy with no ranking or a guy ranked basically in the top 10.
“Of course I wish I would have maybe had a little bit easier draw, but under the circumstances I felt I played okay. It wasn’t a bad match, which is the only positive thing out of tonight.
“I definitely could have played much better tennis, but then again you’ve got to give credit to the guy who beat you and came up with the shots. I played some awful forehands many times. I think that really had something to do with being a bit rusty. That happens and I usually come through those matches, but not tonight.”
Murray said the most important thing was to go on court believing he could win.
“The most important thing is just to believe you can win the match,” he said. “I think too many times on the tour some guys try to play almost too well, and it’s really important to stay patient and not make rash decisions early in the match. And I definitely didn’t do that today. That’s one of the keys.
“In terms of my serving that was pretty special today. I’ve worked on my serve a lot and to beat Federer in a three set match and not have a break point against you, I don’t think that’s happened to him for a long time. That was something I was really happy with because I have worked on that a lot and it held up in the pressure situations.
“I’ve been really mentally weak for such a long time and not held up in pressure situations, and I think I showed tonight that was not going to be an issue. I stayed calm the whole way through the match.”
In other matches, fourth seeded Spaniard David Ferrer beat Germany’s Tommy Haas 6-3 6-0, fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Kuwait’s Mohammed Ghareeb 6-4 6-0. Seventh seed Richard Gasquet of France beat Russia's Dmitry Tursonov 6-4 6-4, and 2007 finalist Mikhail Youzhny of Russia fell 6-3 6-4 to 35-year old Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
“It’s a great performance to beat Mikhail,” said Santoro. “He’s been a very consistent player in the last 12 months. He started pretty well this year again, reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, winning Chennai. Obviously, beating him today is a great win for me.
“I worked a lot on my serve the last couple of days, and that was the key point of the match,” said Santoro. “I served very well so I was able to win many free points, which is very important against him. For the rest, I wanted to play many balls in the middle of the court. I didn’t want to give him any angle, so it was pretty touch on me physically because I had to run. I thought it was a good strategy.”
