The semi-final line-up at the Dubai Duty Free Championships was perhaps not the one many had anticipated a week ago.
The world No1 Andy Murray was still in place at the very top of the pile, and he would take on the only remaining seed, No7 Lucas Pouille. But both had got thus far without facing another seed and both had survived a severe three-set test in the quarters.
Murray countered seven match points in the joint longest tie-break recorded on the ATP tour, 20-18, against Philipp Kohlschreiber and came through after almost three hours on court. Pouille saved eight of 10 break points to beat Evgeny Donskoy, 7-6, in the final set, at just before 2am. He was back on court, facing Murray, just 17 hours later.
The bottom half of the draw, however, had lost all its seeds to leave former No7 and current No35 Fernando Verdasco topping the odds against a man relatively unknown in this part of the world. Dutchman Robin Haase is ranked just 66 and was through to his first ATP500 semi-final.
Verdasco, for his part, had beaten the No4 seed Gael Monfils for the first time after also taking out No6 seed Roberto Bautista Agut. He had already made the semis in Doha this year, where he had five match points against Djokovic, and in Dubai, he had set the best first-serve percentage in the tournament.
But opposing him, the tall Haase had made more aces and won more first-serve points than anyone else. To make a prediction still tougher, they had split their previous matches, 3-3.
It began as a slug-fest, with an early Haase break countered by Verdasco for 3-3 after a half of play. They would, though, need a tie-break, and Verdasco’s growing number of net chases paid off. A final forehand winner, and he had the set, 7-6(5), after an hour.
The second set began as the first, with a break to Haase, but this time he consolidated for a 3-0 lead, and ran out the winner, 7-5.
In the third, it was Verdasco who got the quick early break for a 2-0 lead. He faced two break-back points at 4-1, defended them, and raced to the line with another break, 6-1. He will play in his first hard-court final in six years.
And make no mistake, this was a popular win: Verdasco’s big-time game has highlighted many big matches in the past, not least his five-set, five-hour marathon against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open semis in 2009—beating Murray in five en route—as well as closing the year at the World Tour Finals with three tight three-setters against Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer.
As he said after reaching the final, “It’s a long time since I was in the final of a 500,” but asked if he would watch Murray take on Pouille, he said:
“Both of them are better ranked than me so I have nothing to lose… no, I know them both, so I will switch off from tennis a little bit until tomorrow.”
Pouille is one of the fastest improving players on the tour. Age just 23, he was ranked 88 this time last year, and three finals and one title later, he is up to 15. Only last week, he made the final in Marseille.
Murray had won all three of their previous matches, all last year, and Pouille had not managed more than four games in any of them. But the Frenchman has come on in leaps and bounds with an exciting, all court style of tennis, and that showed in the early stages of this contest.
Pouille fired first a backhand winner down the line then a forehand to push Murray to deuce in the first game. However, Murray was clearly determined to play aggressively, and got a break in the very next game, holding for 3-0.
Pouille seemed then to lift his game and energy levels and got the break back. Not content with that, he finished a 30-shot rally with a blistering forehand winner for break point and Murray double faulted. The Briton was now a break adrift, but it is not in Murray’s nature to back off, especially when on the back foot.
The two men pounded through some gruelling rallies, throwing in drop shots to break up the patterns, but Murray is so quick, these rarely beat him. With some superb defence, he got ball after ball back against the Pouille serve in the 12th game, and eventually got his reward. A clenched fist marked the key break after 69 minutes, 7-5.
Whether through tiredness or dissatisfaction at losing that first set, Pouille’s game fell apart, helped not a little by Murray’s relentless assault. The Briton broke in the second game, again in the fourth, and held to love for set and match, 6-1, in less than half an hour more of play.
The Frenchman is a gently-spoken man, and made no excuses for his weak finish:
“Well, I think it was a very intense first set. Long. I think we played more than an hour… I had the game points to lead 5-3. I didn’t make it. And then I think I was a bit too frustrated at the beginning of the second set, and that cost me three or four games. Then it was too late to come back.
“Of course, I was a bit tired, but I knew before going on court that I was going to be tired a little bit. I fell asleep around 5am—it was quite late, but I think this is not the reason why I lost today. I lost the first set because he won a few points that made a difference, and then the second set I got too frustrated to get a chance to win.”
But Murray was far from satisfied with his own tennis:
“I don’t think it was the best match. A lot of mistakes. There was some good stuff in there, I think, middle and towards the end of the first set, but neither of us served well at the beginning.
“I think potentially matches yesterday had something to do with that… Obviously on quite a high after a match like yesterday. Sometimes you don’t necessarily realise it. You know, you don’t always sleep as well after a match like that. But it was tough for him, as well. He had a really, really late finish and a long match, as well, with a lot of ups and downs, too. So it wasn’t easy.”
Murray will play Verdasco for the 14th time, and try, as he put it, to “keep the momentum going.” He has won 12 of their previous matches but on hard courts it has invariably been far from easy. Way back in Dubai 2008, it took a final tie-break to separate them, and in the Paris Masters last year, it was a close 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5 win for the Briton.
He spoke from experience—that only loss to the Spaniard, in five sets, in Australia eight years ago—when he explained:
“He can generate a lot of power, and when he’s dictating the points, he’s one of the best in the world at doing that.
“So obviously I need to try to stop him from doing that, which means dictating a little bit more myself, getting up on the baseline and hopefully be a little bit sharper at the beginning compared with today.”
They take to court at 7pm tomorrow.