Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, UAE

Men’s Semifinal: [1] Andy Murray (GBR) vs. [15] Lucas Pouille (FRA)

Murray led 3:0; however, given the recent rash of upsets, anything was possible.  It seemed that another upset was in the making after Murray dropped his break lead and then Pouille broke again to take the lead.  History has a way making us vulnerable to doubts and having never taken a set from Murray in their previous encounters, Pouille lacked the belief to consolidate his lead.  Murray knows well that as the number one ranked player, everyone has their eye on defeating him and after a marathon second set tiebreak yesterday against Philipp Kohlschreiber, he knew that winning was not a guarantee, much less winning easily.

Murray has matured so much over the years and despite the occasional verbal outbursts when things aren’t going well, he often manages to marshal his focus in critical times to get the victory.  Today he had to regroup after a patchy period where things looked to be going Pouille’s way.  Once he broke back at the latter stages of the first set, he broke Pouille’s will and it was simply a matter of time before Murray ended any hope Pouille had of defeating him.  Murray won 7-5, 6-1 and gets to his second final in Dubai.

Men’s Semifinal: [35] Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs. [66] Robin Haase (NED)

Their head-to-head was tied at 3:3, so both players knew that this match was not going to be an easy victory.  They both have had a recent resurgence in their careers and the match could have gone to either player.  It went to three sets with many ups and downs as both players battled nerves at the prospect of getting to the final.  Verdasco prevailed 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1 and will try to get his second victory over Murray.  He has not beaten Murray since 2009 and is 1:12 against him.

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