Another gift of a finals spot

It seems that Roger Federer's general likeability--or perhaps it's the aura of invincibility that he exudes--has gone to such an extent that players are now handing him over victories this year. Talk about conquering your opponents with both your tennis game and kindness!

First there was Tommy Haas who gave the world number one a free ticket to the semifinals at Indian Wells. Then there was Davydenko who made the even more generous gesture of handing Federer the title at Estoril last week, Federer's first title this season.

And now there's Novak Djokovic.

The Serb has just retired from his semifinals match against the Swiss at the ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo after trailing 6-3 3-2 to set up a dream final between the top two players in the tour. No surprise there as Djokovic has made it a habit of pulling out from a match when he's feels he's not up to finishing the match and is at the losing end.
Djokovic appeared to have the upperhand early in the match as he threatened Federer at his service game by going up 15-40 when the score was at two games all. But Djokovic was unable to convert both breakpoints and a third later in the set. Federer on the other hand was much more successful as he pounced for the kill at his very first opportunity to break Djokovic's serve and earn a chance to serve for the set at 5-3.

In the second set, Federer produced an early break of serve to go up 2-1 but failed to consolidate it as Djokovic immediately broke back to love to level the set. The two-time Monte Carlo runner-up proceeded to break Djokovic's serve for a second time for a 3-2 lead. By that time however Djokovic evidently thought that he had had enough and indicated that he couldn't continue playing because he was feeling weak and dizzy.

Federer now progresses to the finals for the third straight year where he hopes to prevent Rafael Nadal from making history by collecting a fourth successive title at Monte Carlo. The world number two had earlier eased past fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-2 and holds a 6-1 head-to-head record against Federer on clay.
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