DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 2 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland continued his early-season success Sunday by capturing the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Federer beat third seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), in the final of the $1 million hardcourt event to claim his second title of the year.
The 21-year-old Swiss star won at Marseille two weeks ago and made it to the semifinals last week at Rotterdam. He earned $142,000 for his sixth career title and will rise to third in the ATP Champions Race.
Novak's third straight loss to Federer kept the 27-year-old Czech without a tournament win since Gstaad 2001. However, Novak had his best ATP tournament of the year. Prior to this week, his best result on tour was a quarterfinal showing at Auckland in January.
