In the semi-finals of the Capitala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition shootout being played at the Zayed Sports City tennis stadium, Scotsman Murray prevailed in three sets 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
The world number four next takes on the top-ranked player in the world, Rafael Nadal in the final after the Spaniard’s explosive powerplay proved to hot for Russian world number five Nikolay Davydenko to handle. Nadal won 6-2, 6-3.
Federer began well, racing to 3-0 in the first set. Murray broke back in the fifth game when the Swiss maestro twice failed to pull of easy drop shots on the net. A double fault by Murray on break point in the 10th game sealed the set for Federer.
Federer struggled at the net and with his forehand shots in the second set, which was easily won by Murray, who then raced to a 4-1 lead in the third.
However, Murray held on to his serve in the 10th game and pushed the set into a tie-breaker, where several Federer unforced errors gave him three match points at 6-3. The Swiss star saved all three match points, but two more unforced errors ensured the result in favour of the Scot.
In the other semi-final, Davy-denko broke Nadal in the first game without giving him any point. But Nadal took the first set 6-2. In the second set, Davydenko broke Nadal in the first game again, but he broke right back. Another break in the sixth game and it was all over for Davydenko.—AFP