Fifth seed Bernard Tomic overcame a slow start to move into the Abierto Mexicano Telcel final with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov on Friday. Tomic had not beaten the flashy Ukrainian since the 2012 Australian Open, but reversed the trend to qualify for his first ATP World Tour 500 final.

“Many top players in the world don’t like to play Alex, he is very, very tough,” Tomic said. “Rafa [Nadal] and Novak [Djokovic] say that he is a very difficult player, and you just have to stay with him in the match. His level of play was too good in the first set. So I knew I had to stay with him and take advantage of my opportunities.

“I’ve played well in [ATP World Tour] 250 events and in Grand Slams, but never in 500s,” Tomic noted. “I’m very happy to be in a final now.”

Tomic dropped serve three times in the first set, but fought back to record his fourth win in 10 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Dolgopolov. He is into his fifth ATP World Tour final (3-1) and first since winning in Bogota last year (d. Mannarino). The Aussie will be playing for his fourth ATP World Tour title against either Dominic Thiem or Sam Querrey.

“I hope that Querrey wins,” Tomic said. “Otherwise, I’ll have to play someone I’ve never played in my career. Against Querrey, I’ll have to serve big. Thiem is an amazing player on defence and gets a lot of balls back.”

Dolgopolov had been nearly unplayable on serve coming into the semi-finals, having won 29 of 31 service games in three rounds. He saved both break points faced in the opening set, but dropped serve four times in the next two sets to succumb in one hour and 46 minutes.

Pablo Cuevas dashed hopes for a homegrown winner at the Brasil Open by defeating Thiago Monteiro 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarter-finals on Friday. Cuevas beat the Brazilian for the second time in as many weeks after downing the 21-year-old wild card a few days ago at the Rio Open. With the win, Cuevas improved to 9-1 on clay and 10-0 against left-handers in 2016. The defending champion made history by defeating only lefties en route to the Rio de Janeiro title last week.

“I started the match very passively,” noted Cuevas, who saved six break points in the two-hour encounter. “I wanted to be calm, but I was a little bit off. But as the match went on, I found more intensity in my game, which helped me win today.”

Monteiro, who beat three-time champion Nicolas Almagro in the first round, was appearing in his first ATP World Tour quarter-final.

In the semi-finals, Cuevas will face Dusan Lajovic, who finished strongly with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 win over qualifier Gastao Elias. Lajovic won 24 of 32 points in the deciding set to notch his first ATP World Tour quarter-final win (0-8 coming into Friday).

“I’ve played so many quarter-finals, and at one point thought it would never happen,” Lajovic said. “I got a bit tight in the second set and then I got angry with myself. But the whole third set I played really well.”

“I don’t remember facing [Lajovic] before, but I saw he has a nice backhand,” noted Cuevas. “Any player who is playing in a semi-final is there because he is playing well. My goal is to win and to play for the title on Sunday.”

Unseeded Argentines Guillermo Duran and Andres Molteni made a quick start and held off top-seeded Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 6-1, 2-6, 10-8 in the quarter-finals of the Brasil Open in Sao Paulo on Friday. Each team broke serve twice in the 71-minute match, but the eventual winners only dropped one point on serve in the Match Tie-break to move into the semi-finals.

The other seeded team in the quarter-finals was also upset. Pablo Carreno Busta and David Marrero downed No. 3 Maximo Gonzalez and Andre Sa 6-3, 6-4 in 63 minutes. The Spaniards saved four of five break points faced.

Dubai Doubles Final Set

It will be Spain versus Italy in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships doubles final on Saturday, as Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez will face Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi for the title. Lopez/Lopez edged youngsters Hyeon Chung and Jiri Vesely 6-4, 7-6(6), while the Italians topped Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski 6-4, 6-4.

Four-time champion Roger Federer has withdrawn from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells next month as he continues to rehab from knee surgery. Federer underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee February 3 in Switzerland and only returned to the practice court this past Tuesday.

On his Facebook page, Federer wrote: “The rehab for my knee is going really well! I have now had a lot of great practices on the court and in the gym. As it is a long year, I don’t want to push it too hard and come back too soon. Thus, I will unfortunately not be able to make it back in time for the great event in Indian Wells but I do plan on playing in the desert next year.

“After consultation with my team, I have decided to enter the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Thanks for the support and I will see you back on tour soon.”

Federer finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic the past two years in Indian Wells, where he last won the title in 2012. The Swiss also won three consecutive titles in the Californian desert from 2004-06. Since making his debut in 2001, Federer has made 15 consecutive appearances in Indian Wells, where he boasts a 52-11 record.

Federer suffered a torn meniscus one day after falling to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in late January.

Former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis is through to his biggest ATP World Tour final since 2010 after defeating Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 on Friday in the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The Cypriot is through to his first ATP World Tour 500 final since finishing runner-up at the Citi Open in Washington six years ago.

Looking to win his fifth ATP World Tour title (4-8 finals record), Baghdatis will face second seed Stan Wawrinka on Saturday. The right-hander will need to overturn a 0-5 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Wawrinka.

“It’s amazing,” said Baghdatis. “It’s been a long road for me the past three, four years. It’s all about fighting, getting back to where I want to be. Last year we set some goals to be Top 50 with my team. I achieved that.

“Now I’m moving forward. I think I have still a lot to improve on, but the most important thing is health-wise I’m very, very good. I don’t have any injuries or the health problems that I had. I’m happy I’m back on the court and winning. It’s a nice feeling. I’m going to work even harder so it continues.

“I have definitely thought of retiring. That’s where my wife (former WTA player Karolina Sprem) was there and was very strong, made me take the right decisions. My agent, my parents, my team around me, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The 30-year-old Baghdatis was up against it facing the sixth-seeded Lopez, but turned around a set and a break deficit to prevail in just over two hours.

“He was the better player today I think the first two sets,” said Baghdatis. “He couldn’t hold his nerves. End of the second he was a break up at 4-3, and serving with new balls he couldn’t hold his nerves.

“The crowd helped me amazingly there and I found a way to fight in the second and win it. I think I played an unbelievable tie-break, very solid, returned very well, served very well.

“Then I started to get momentum in the third. And once I got the break, then held after being down 0/40 on my serve at 2-1, then everything went pretty smooth.”