Jaziri Gives Roger Federer A Scare

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

The toast of Tunisian tennis, Malek Jafrizi, got a rise out of tennis legend Roger Federer by taking the first set in their first round match this week at the Dubai Championships. The 128th-ranked Jaziri was facing Federer for the first time, after qualifying for the tournament as a wild card. In the first set, Jaziri broke Federer’s serve to go up 6-5. And then served out the first set to take it 7-5. However, Federer thoroughly dominated thereafter, winning the second set 6-0 in only 23 minutes, and then breaking Jaziri’s serve twice in the third set to close it out 6-2.

Jaziri reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour on June 11, 2012, when he became world number 69. He appeared in the qualifying draw at the 2010 Australian Open, losing in the first round to Michał Przysiężny of Poland. Jaziri qualified for the 2011 US Open, In the first round, Jaziri defeated World No. 159 Thiemo de Bakker in four sets. Jaziri lost to World No. 8 Mardy Fish 6–2 6–2 6–4 in the second round.

In 2012, he reached the second round in his Wimbledon debut and also the second round at the 2012 London Olympic, losing to American John Isner. He lost in the first round of the 2012 US Open, and followed that up with his best ever result on the ATP World Tour when he reached the semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, losing to eventual champion Andreas Seppi. In the process he became the first Tunisian male to reach the semi-finals of an ATP event. Jaziri has been a member of the Tunisian Davis Cup team since 2000, posting an 18–12 record in singles and a 7–10 record in doubles in 29 Davis Cup ties.

15-10