The fourth seed at Dubai is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and newly ranked number 5, ahead of David Ferrer.  With his upsets over Federer in 2011, everyone said Tsonga was going to be in the top 4, and of course, replace Andy Murray, since the top 3 seemed pretty solid.  This, despite the fact that Juan Martin del Potro was making a comeback.  This, despite the fact that Tsonga did not have a good record against the top 4 (though he did reasonably well against Djokovic).

So when Juan Martin del Potro faced Tsonga for the second time in less than a week, Tsonga was not exactly considered a favorite.  He had just lost to him in the semis of Marseille on home soil.  On the foreign soil of Dubai, Tsonga didn’t fare much better.  He lost 76. 62.

Andy Murray had perhaps the toughest match in the quarters having to play top tenner, Tomas Berdych.  Murray had lost to Berdych three times in a row, last year in the quarters of Paris, then the year before also in Paris, but at the French Open, and then not for a few years way back in Adelaide.  But he handled the tall Czech with a 63 75 win that wasn’t exactly easy.  Murray kept getting up a break and then losing it, and ended up needing 6 match points to win.

Roger Federer had an easier time with Mikhail Youzhny with a comfortable 63 64 win.

Much like two weeks ago when Federer met del Potro in the finals of Rotterdam, he is hoping to use superior hitting and make del Potro cover a lot of court. del Potro is looking to use his power and hope Fed is a little off his game.

Meanwhile, neither Djokovic nor Murray have played great tennis to reach this point. Will Lendl’s coaching make a difference yet?  Murray’s come the closest to staying even with Djokovic.  Is he ready to do it again?