Dubai: Feliciano Lopez continued his amazing run here to set up a meeting against red-hot American Andy Roddick in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships to be played today.
The Spaniard's latest casualty was fifth seeded Nikolay Davydenko, while Roddick got past third seed Novak Djokovic later in the evening.
The 26-year-old Lopez, the only unseeded semifinalist here, won 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 against Davydenko, while Roddick continued his fine form with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Djokovic.
This is the second final for Lopez in Dubai, following his loss to four-time champion Roger Federer in three sets in 2004. And for Roddick, this is a dream debut in Dubai following his win against second seed Rafael Nadal on Thursday. This is the first time ever that Roddick has beaten a second seed and third seed in one tournament.
Lopez too has been in fine form after wins against the fourth seed David Ferrer in the quarterfinals and eighth seed Tomas Berdych in the second round to take his tally to three top 10 players in one week.
Confident approach
"I've done a final here before. Hopefully I can go one better this time," Lopez said.
"True the draw has been very tough. But with every win comes the confidence as I have beaten three top-ten players during the past week and this does give me a lot of self-belief," Lopez admitted.
But before all that the Spaniard will have to come to terms with Roddick and his amazing serves - one of which was timed at 241kph on Thursday against Nadal, clearly a record for the Dubai tournament.
His serve was clearly the defining difference between the two players, and none was in a better position to vouch for that than Djokovic himself.
"The idea was to get the ball in as much as possible. But, he was simply too good with his first serves and he put in more pressure by mixing up the game well," Djokovic admitted.
Roddick totalled 14 aces through his two sets, but was a bit undone with two double faults. But those really did not matter in the end as the American used his backhand top spin to maximum advantage in getting Djokovic make all the mistakes.
"I have so much respect for Novak," Roddick told the crowd as he embraced Djokovic after one hour and a half hour on centre court. "I've beaten the world No 2 and now the world No 3 and that feels good. Hopefully, we will see a good match tomorrow as well. He [Lopez] has nothing to lose and I am looking forward to the challenge," Roddick said.
Results
Singles (semifinal): Feliciano Lopez bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Andy Roddick bt Novak Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Doubles (semifinal): Martin Damm/Pavel Vizner bt Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 7-6 (6).
