Tomas Berdych earns Dubai Final slot, beats Roger Federer

Third seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic battled his way to the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday after defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. Federer seemed headed to a straight sets victory by setting up three match points to his favor but Berdych managed to save those match points and sealed the second set tiebreaker.

“I couldn’t be feeling any better,” said Berdych. “I would say [it was] almost in front of his home crowd and to be the one who won that match, it really feels great. I’m very pleased the way I played today.”

“In every single point, I was believing in myself, trying to be just focused on that single point. I didn’t want to see the score and just go one by one. It worked. It’s the kind of tactic that I will try to stick with and try to bring it for every single match.”

Berdych will face top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the final. The Czech player will be motivated enough to improve on his 1-12 head to head series record against Djokovic.