That was rather bad for Roger. Actually it was horrible.
Federer went to Hamburg to find his best tennis, try a new racket and, of course, win the tournament.
At the beginning this title looked as a low hanging fruit for the Maestro especially just before playing the semifinal. In fact, on the other side of the draw Fognini got to the final. The Italian is having a wonderful stint but he still not a top 10 player. Before getting to the final, Roger had to beat the world no.114 and qualifier Federico Delbonis that was playing a great tennis… but you know… it should haven’t to be a problem for Roger. But it was, and a big one.
The very bad part of it is that Roger lost the match with Delbonis in straight sets and even worse in 2 tiebreaks where his huge experience should have been the difference. Delbonis was all over the place and as per Roger’s words he was the better player. The match ended after 1 hour and 53 minutes with Delbonis winning 92 points vs. Roger’s 85
From Roger
“I think he was a bit better than me today. Both sets could have gone either way. So, it’s clearly a pity I couldn’t win either of the sets because I was starting to feel better towards the end of the match. But unfortunately I couldn’t push him further and create more chances today.” Said Roger.
Why it’s a worrying situation for Roger
We are big fans of the Maestro, but what was really bad in the match against Delbonis was that Roger didn’t play really bad, the problems seems that Roger doesn’t bite anymore and his serve is not rescuing like the “nice old days”. At the beginning of the season Roger was playing a great tennis, but he was struggling in the last mile against the big guys. Against Delbonis he was rather passive without creating much. Delbonis was the aggressor, and that wasn’t good for Roger.
Roger’s tournament was really ugly to drop a set against Brands in the opener and Mayer in the quarter final. Losing to Delbonis in straight sets made it really worse.
About Delbonis
The young Argentine definitely does not deserve the actual ranking and he is a guy that if keeps on playing like in this tournament will definitely break into the top 20. He has a game that at time reminds Rafa (he is left handed like the Mallorcan) and with a big forehand that reminds Soderling… It will be interesting to see if he can keep up with it.
The Final
Delbonis will take on a super Fognini that has a 9 matches winning streak. Head to head is 1-0 for Debonis and that was on clay in Madrid qualifications (details). Time to win his first ATP title?
