Tennis “GOAT” Roger Federer On The Verge Of Title Number 100 At The ATP Dubai Tourney

Roger Federer is one win away from his 100th career ATP title after beating Borna Coric 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday evening. Federer fired seven aces while double-faulting only once and he dropped a mere 11 points in eight service games without facing a single break chance. He booked a spot in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas after one hour and seven minutes.

“I was really happy with my play today,” Federer assured. “In terms of feeling, [this match] was definitely by far the best one (of the week), so that was good. I’m sure Borna was feeling it a little bit from his past few matches.”

Coric had advanced to the semis by surviving three consecutive third-set tiebreakers. but the sixth-seeded Croat was never competitive in this one. His serve, especially, let him down (only one ace, 41 percent of second-serve points won).

“I think it was important to mix it up, be solid, not give him too many chances and keep showing him it’s going to be really difficult for him to win,” said Federer. “At the end, I actually played really good. I’m very pleased.”

Tsitsipas, who outlasted Gael Monfils in a third-set tiebreaker on Friday, upset Federer at the Australian Open a little more than a month ago.

“[Stefanos] showed me at the Australian Open how hard he is (to play),” said Federer. “I hope I’m going to play well…. We’re still far from [reaching 100 titles], it seems. I’m just going to try to focus and play good tennis.”