Dmitry Tursunov was the only seed to fall on Day 3 of the ATP Dubai Duty Free Championships.  Roger Federer was given a pretty healthy scare by Radek Stepanek, who won a set and had multiple game points to lead the deciding set, 3-0.  Federer won a flurry of games and although he was unable to serve out the match, broke in the next game to secure a 6-2 6-7(4) 6-3 victory and set up a quarter-final with Lukas Rosol.  There were no qualms though with picking Dubai’s match of the day for Thursday…

1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Tomas Berdych

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tomas Berdych has started the 2014 tennis season in fine form with a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open and seven straight wins, which included a run to the title in Rotterdam.  He has strolled his way through the first two matches in Dubai including a 6-2 6-1 victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky on Wednesday.  Next up for the Berd is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who benefitted from a walkover by Nikolay Davydenko today.  Tsonga was impressive in beating Victor Hanescu on Tuesday, 6-2 6-4.  Particularly in the first set, he returned very well and caught Hanescu off guard with some deep hitting.  The Frenchman has done a reasonable job in 2014, but has yet to really find his best form after a long spell on the sidelines in 2013 due to a knee injury picked up at Wimbledon.

Berdych leads the head-to-head with Tsonga by four wins to two; however Tsonga won their last match in the final of Marseille.  Tsonga came from a set down to win the title, 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4.  Their last three encounters have gone the distance so this promises to be a tough encounter.  Berdych is definitely playing the better tennis right now and Tsonga has not been able to find that extra level in the big match-ups he has played in 2014.  I think something will click for Tsonga this year, but I don’t think it will happen just yet.

Prediction: Berdych to beat Tsonga in 2 very tight sets

ATP Dubai Quarter-Final Predictions

Novak Djokovic to beat Mikhail Youzhny in 2 sets

Roger Federer to beat Lukas Rosol in 2 tight sets

Philipp Kohlschreiber to beat Malek Jaziri in 2 tight sets

ATP Acapulco Quarter-Final Predictions

David Ferrer to beat Kevin Anderson in 2 very tight sets

Alexandr Dolgopolov to beat Ivo Karlovic in 3 sets

Grigor Dimitrov to beat Ernests Gulbis in 2 very tight sets

Andy Murray to beat Gilles Simon in 2 sets

WTA Acapulco Quarter-Final Predictions

Dominika Cibulkova to beat Marina Erakovic in 3 sets

Ajla Tomljanovic to beat Zhang Shuai in 3 sets

Kaia Kanepi to beat Christina McHale in 2 sets

Eugenie Bouchard to beat Caroline Garcia in 2 sets