Donskoy stuns Federer in the second round of Dubai open-essentiallysports.com

Roger Federer looked on course to enter the third round of the Dubai Open, but it was not meant to be. 99th ranked player Evgeny Donskoy saved three match points as he pulled off a stunning upset on Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, defeating the seven-time former champion Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) in a thrilling final. Federer looked completely in command as he held two match points in the second set, but Donskoy forced a decider.

In the third set Federer broke to serve for the match, but he lost his serve and Donskoy had a chance to serve it out. But he couldn’t close out the match either so the match went to a second tie break. Federer had a 5-2 lead in the tie break but the qualifier managed to win five straight points to close out the match.

In the post match interview, he said to beat a player of Roger’s caliber is a dream come true and said that he himself was surprised with the victory. What this means for Federer’s comeback year, only time will tell. But his fans will know that this is not the first time he has squandered break points and match points, and given that the tournament was just one of the few he has played this year, it might just be a lack of focus and concentration that was the issue with Roger.