Federer winds himself up for final effort

Having exorcised the ghost of his second-round defeat at last year's $1m Dubai Open, which resulted in the organisers withholding his appearance money, Roger Federer is in a position to win the title here today.

The Swiss top seed will play Jiri Novak, the Czech third seed, in the final, both having coped better than their opponents in yesterday's windy conditions. Federer defeated Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 last night after Novak had dispensed with Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-4, 6-1 in the heat of the afternoon, when the shammal was blowing stronger.

Ljubicic served big but Federer served better, dropping only nine points on his serve, six of them in the second set. Recalling his early days, when the wind played such havoc with his game that he thought he could only succeed on indoor courts, the 21-year-old from Basle was delighted with his display here.

He acknowledged, however, that Novak and Robredo had played in the worst of the conditions. "I was sitting by the pool at the time, and it was like a hurricane," Federer said.

Robredo concurred. After botching a drop-shot to go 3-1 down in the second set, the 20-year-old Spaniard sat down on the baseline, shook his head, and probably wondered why wind had not blown him off the court along with his game. At one stage a sunshade was blown over near the umpire's chair but as Ed Hardisty, the ATP supervisor, said, solid objects have to be flying across the court before wind stops play, and the situation had not reached that point.

"It wasn't tennis, it was just a fight," Novak said. "Mentally you have to be strong and remember that the conditions are exactly the same for both of us. We can't hit the ball with full power and show the kind of tennis we can play."

The 34th-ranked Robredo, who had eliminated Russia's Marat Safin in the second round, fought hard enough but too often he allowed frustration to rule his head, particularly when his forehand passing shots wafted wide time after time.