Roger’s tennis is immensely better than Falla’s on the grass, but the Colombian played an incredible match with the world no.1
The beginning was very tense with Roger not at ease and Falla in a very good mood as he did not have anything to lose. So we have Falla going for everything and Federer… well not as splendid as ever. After a while the Maestro starts to relax to break the Colombian in the 8th game of the first set to then win it 6-3.
The second set was also very tricky. Federer has a very important break in the 7th game to then hold his service game and lead 5-3. At that point the Maestro has 3 consecutive match points, but a tenacious Falla managed to hold the service and then break the Swiss in the following game. Then Federer wastes other 3 consecutive break points on Falla’s service to be broken again. Can you beleive it? Roger was leading 6-3 5-3 0-40 and he lost 4 consecutive games with Falla!
The third set starts with Falla on the roll and being the first to serve that was a potential disaster for Federer. But Roger’s experience helps him to conquer an early break to hold his serve and get an early 2-0 lead. Then Falla holds his service game to break Federer again.. it’s 2-2 and Falla is blasting everything at the Swiss. The Colombian holds serve and leads 3-2. After losing 4 straight games, Roger loses other 3 consecutive games: the tension is playing its role. Then the Maestro holds serve to get to a 3-3 scoreline and win the decisive break. Eventually the Maestro win his service game and has other 3 consecutive match points on Falla’s service. Falla saves the first, but he can’t do anything on the second one. Federer wins 6-3 5-7 6-3
Great match from Falla and good test for Federer that has to be more careful in converting crucial points.
This was Roger’s comment: “It was up and down, a rollercoaster match like it was a few years ago. But things were looking great today. I had all the match points I wanted, I served for the match. He got tough and I got nervous. It was a tough set to lose for me.
“That’s the beauty of this game. Sometimes you’re one point away, the next thing you’re 25 points away. That made things difficult in my mind. But I never stopped believing, kept on pushing. He got a break back in the third set, that obviously set my nerves going because the margins are very small at that point. I’m happy I found a way to tough it out.”
The Swiss will play Benneteau (7-5 6-3 on Youzhny). Federer has mixed memory with the Frenchman as he had to recover 2 sets down in the recent Wimbledon edition.
