Dubai Championships 2012: Roger Federer Takes Fifth Title

Roger Federer already has four titles from Dubai.

Now, he’ll have a shot at his fifth.

Novak Djokovic, the top seed at the Dubai Championship and top-ranked player in the world, won’t be able to match his 43-win steak from 2011 as he lost in the semifinals to No. 4-seed Andy Murray.

Murray, a Scot who has yet to win a Grand Slam and had lost the last seven of 11 meetings between the two 24-year-old tennis stars, ended Djokovic’ streak at 10.

For the last two years, Andy Murray has lost to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.

Lucky for Murray, this is the Dubai Championships.

Seeds No. 1 through No. 8 all advanced in to the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championship -- from No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 2 seeded Roger Federer to No. 4 seeded Andy Murray down to No. 8 seeded Juan Del Potro.

Well, all except one seed advanced.

In 17 minutes, Roger Federer won the first set of his Dubai Championships opening round match. The second set took a bit longer -- 50 minutes, to be exact. It did go to a tiebreaker, but Federer won that too.

So that’s a 6-0, 7-6 (8) victory for the Swiss and a spot in the second round in Dubai.