I am rejoicing at having internet all sorted now so I can now stream tennis, all ready for Indian Wells, which begins next week! There were no surprises in Dubai on Thursday as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer set up a blockbuster semi-final showdown at the Dubai Duty Free Championships.  Can it live up to the hype? Here’s my take on the match ahead.

Poll Result: 76% of readers correctly went for Berdych to beat Tsonga in Thursday’s quarter-final match in Dubai.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer looked like he might be in for a testing match against Lukas Rosol after quickly going a break down in the first set.  Rosol started in fine form and playing with supreme confidence after two impressive straight set wins over Daniel Brands and Dmitry Tursunov.  However Rosol’s quick start soon evaporated as his hit and miss game began to misfire with Federer tearing through the next six games to take the first set, 6-2.  Federer continued to dominate in the second set as he wrapped up a 6-2 6-2 victory over Rosol.  Djokovic didn’t have to take to the court on Thursday as his quarter-final opponent, Mikhail Youzhny was forced to retire due to a virus.

Djokovic and Federer have played each other on 31 occasions and this will be their first match-up in 2014.  Last year it took until the penultimate week of the season before the pair played each other and then it was like London buses.  Djokovic defeated Federer in Paris and London although he was pushed to three sets in both matches.  Federer would perhaps have lost his second round match to Radek Stepanek last year, but he managed to dig in when he was not playing his best.  He is going to have more off days but to beat Djokovic, who looked impressive so far this week, Federer will have to play close to his best tennis.

Prediction: Djokovic to beat Federer in 2 tight sets

ATP Dubai Semi-Final Prediction

Tomas Berdych to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2 tight sets

ATP Acapulco Semi-Final Predictions

Alexandr Dolgopolov to beat Kevin Anderson in 2 sets

Andy Murray to beat Grigor Dimitrov in 3 sets

WTA Acapulco Semi-Final Predictions

Dominika Cibulkova to beat Zhang Shuai in 2 tight sets

Christina McHale to beat Caroline Garcia in 3 sets