Difficult match for Roger Federer in his opener in Halle.
The Maestro was playing clay court specialist Joao Sousa to face some unexpected problems.
Joao played a really good and solid match especially in the opening set when Roger wasn’t able to break him. The Maestro had a very good serving game, but he was struggling once again with his returns. Eventually the Portuguese won the first set at the breaker at 8.
In the second set Roger found his range and Sousa game went a bit down. The Maestro won the decisive break at 0 in the 7th game (4-3) to grab the second set 6-4. The decider was rather smooth for Federer that broke Sousa again in the opening game (at 15) and in the 5th game. Roger eventually won 6-7 (8) 6-4 6-2. Match Stats
Federer: I had to stay calm
Roger was happy by his serving game, but… “It was slightly frustrating at times clearly, but nevertheless I served well and kept on doing my thing,” he said. “It was important to stay calm and actually I think it gives me more confidence winning this way. I had to stay calm, fight through the match and find a way and then the last set and a half were much better. So, I’m actually pretty happy now.”
Next vs. Lu
Federer had the very good news that Lu beat Karlovic, so the Maestro will avoid playing the erratic Croatian in the quarters (you’ll never know what to expect from him). Roger faced the Taiwanese twice, head to head is 2-0 for the world no.4
