This one was a 1 hour (free) lesson from the Maestro on the Centre Court in Basel. Roger was in great form against an enjoyable, but utterly unconsistent Benoit Paire.
The French is a very nice player to watch. He has an immense potential with huge “wow shots”, but his tennis is not solid and his shot selection is frequently questionable. On top of it he tends to melt during important points. So… no chances with top players, let alone with Roger!
The Match
The French starts the match with an ominous first service game (2 aces and 2 winners)… then… game over. Far too many useless and ill executed drop shots and… oh yes.. off course.. there was Federer on the other side of the net!
Roger was much more consistent and he definately improved his returns (something he is really struggling). Federer’s ground strokes also improved a lot and he was volleying really well. After 54 minutes it was time to head to the locker room for a nice shower
From Federer
“I was very happy with the match, the way it went,” said Federer. “I was able to mix up my game, play aggressive and take it to Benoit. He struggled after that. He didn’t have his best day I think, but maybe I pushed him there, so I’m happy with the outcome.”
Next against Mathieu
Mathieu beat baby Federer, Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4) in a 2 hours match. The French is now ranked 101 (false ranking). Head to Head is 5-0 for Federer (13 sets to 1). The world no.1 shouldn’t struggle.
“It’s nice seeing him playing so well,” Federer said. “He’s also had a couple tough matches here this week. He’s a good player. He’s got one of the best backhands in the world. He’s got a good fighting spirit and he’s my age, so we’ve known each other for a really long time. I’m looking forward to the match.”
Del Potro – Gasquet
In the other half of the draw Del Potro will play Gasquet. Delpo survived a scare with boom boom Anderson (20 aces in 15 service games) to win 6-3 6-7 (3) 6-2 i n2 hours and 20 minutes. Gasquet defeats Youzhny 6-2 7-6 (5) in 1 hour and 44 minutes.
Head to head is 4-1 for Delpo, but the Tower of Tamil should be very tired after winning last week tournament in Vienna and the last match.
