Cincinnati R3 preview and pick: Federer vs. Haas

Friends and familiar foes Roger Federer and Tommy Haas will face each other in the Cincinnati third round on Thursday. The winner will go up against either Rafael Nadal or Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.

Roger Federer and Tommy Haas will be squaring off for the 15th time in their careers when they collide in a blockbuster third-round showdown at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday. Federer leads the head-to-head series 11-3, including 4-2 on hard courts despite losing the first two times on this surface against Haas. They most recently clashed earlier this summer of the grass courts of Halle (they also played doubles together at that event), where Federer prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The fifth-ranked Swiss is back playing with his old, smaller racket that carried him to the Halle title–among, of course, many other triumphs. Testing a larger frame last month on clay, Federer lost in the Hamburg semis (to Federico Delbonis) and in the Gstaad second round (to Daniel Brands). A five-time champion in Cincinnati, Federer rebounded in his opener on Tuesday night with a 6-3, 7-6(7) victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Fed 1
Haas has endured no such dips in form this season, instead churning out impressive results with machine-like consistency. The 35-year-old German is 38-16 for his 2013 campaign, which is highlighted by a title in Munich and a run to the Miami Masters semifinals. Haas kicked off his week in Cincinnati by ousting an in-form Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 before hammering Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-1.

HaasEdited
Federer arguably played his best set since this spring in taking the opener against Kohlschreiber, but he once again showed some vulnerability in the second. Haas also went into this tournament with question marks, having been forced out of a Montreal match due to shoulder trouble. The world No. 13, though, completely silenced any concerns with ruthless performances against Anderson and Granollers. Federer may not be confident enough to withstand such a barrage of aggressive all-court play, so the fifth seed will have to serve well in order to dictate rallies from the start if he wants to hold off his friend and fellow veteran.

Pick: Haas in 3

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85 Comments on Cincinnati R3 preview and pick: Federer vs. Haas

  1. I dont really like the prospect of Fed meeting Rafa when he’s playing probably the worst tennis of his career. Still, I want Fed to win today and then face Rafa. Even if we get to see 2-3 great pts it would be worth it.

  2. I am going back and forth on this one. I do want Fed to win and meet Rafa in the quarterfinals. I think it should be a more competitive match than the first one with Kohls. I could see it going three sets.

  3. They aren’t even showing the match here in the states on espn. They switched to the tb with Isner/Raonic and then Stephens/Jankovic. I saw it from 4-1 Haas to the end of the first set. Fed really looking out of sorts. Haas playing very aggressive.

    Now espn will go back to the Fed/Haas match. I have this feeling that they won’t be showing Rafa’s match live. There is little league schedule on espn when Rafa is supposed to be playing. I am going to have a stroke over the coverage.

  4. Please Fed, win this. I would rather Rafa plays Fed than Haas. Haas is too……..mercurial. You never know which Haas is gonna show up.

  5. Well you go your wish. Fed pulled it out. I thought that Haas let him back into the match. Fed did play better in the latter half of the second set and in the third set. Now it’s up to Rafa to keep his date with Fed.

  6. It’s been confirmed on espn that they will show Rafa’s match tape delayed. I could strangle them! I do no like live streams because too often I have gotten a virus in my computer. I don’t want to risk it.

    This is beyond frustrating! All because of little league baseball.

  7. so federer narrowly escaped ! We will have a fedal qtr…rafa will take care of Dimi in 2 sets

    @NNY, i can understand the frustration because I dont think I will be getting any live coverage either 🙁

  8. vamosrafa,

    I just wrote a complaint to espn. I don’t know that it will change anything but I wanted to get it off my chest. It’s unacceptable. They will replay it at 8:00 pm here on the west coast. That’s 11:00 pm on the east coast! Unacceptable!

    I told them that they have other channels and could just easily have televised it live on one of them. I will not use any live stream online. I have done that before and ended up with a virus in my computer. Even when some people said it was a reliable live stream. It’s not worth it to go through that again.

    I assume that they won’t show it on espn3. I will check it out.

    They are going to give me an ulcer with their coverage. Why does Rafa have to play last anyway?

  9. good that you let the frustration out by writing it to them. Yes live streams can bring viruses, but I do not think I can resist, I will be watching it live…and u know what, the match will start at 4 am here in my country ! lol

  10. wowww wbat the hell with you sana.. you predicted 2 times here & correct predictions wow.. so you are on a winning streak 2 😉 no??

    • Oooh, sana’s feeling a little vulnerable…..

      Don’t worry sana, your boy may yet surprise us, we’ll see…

      Vamos!!

    • sana, Ricky doesn’t know who came over from TT and who didn’t,because some posters are under a new moniker. I suspect you are from TT as you seem familiar with Ricky.

  11. My computer problem was due to malware being downloaded onto my laptop when I tried to watch live streaming on stream hunter which I’d used many times in the past with no problems, so I’m staying off live streaming unless it’s TennisTV.com which is by subs.

  12. haha…I am watching a live stream on fromsport.com , the first link !

    Rafa not returning quite as well he did against becker but its just 2 return games..he did get the break though 🙂

  13. Rafa finds himself 2 breaks up without doing much himself really, Dimi errors gifted him the breaks. Now close out the first set Rafa….

    Vamos!!

  14. I am watching on espn3. I took a shower and washed my hair and got to it to see the latter stages of the first set. So I can’t comment, except that the score looks mighty fine!

    Ricky predicted one tb and another close set with one break. Didn’t happen.

    At least I know that espn3 is safe at least. I can’t afford to take any more chances with the live streams.

    They put up the stats for the first set. Rafa getting in 69% of first serves but winning in the 70’s %. Second serve in the 60’s %.

    I will record the match when they broadcast it later on. It will still be early out here on the west coast. I didn’t see enough to get a sense of how Rafa’s game looks. But I will take that score!

  15. Rafa’s not happy, his forehand is not lifting. Couple of easy forehand returns he dumped into the net……

    Vamos Rafa! One set to go…….

  16. Rafa definitely looks flat. He is still in the match by the grace of Dimi’s errors and some good serving. Rafa usually has one flat match in a tournament. I am hoping this is it and he somehow gets out of this with a “w”. He should be in the locker room by now………..

  17. That has to be the worst set of tennis Rafa has played this year. He won 13% of second serve points, 13% in the 2nd set…………

  18. And it’s not as if Dimitrov is playing lights out. Yes he is serving very well but that’s it…….
    Now let’s see if Rafa wants this or not……..or maybe he wants to go to New York early..

  19. I just do not get this, whenever rafa plays grigor, he starts playing poor tennis…he even did that in MC …I thought he had reasons in MC but here he looked so confidentn yesterday.. The ROS is back to mediocre, forehand is leaking errors regularly and backhand has lost its aggressiveness due to cof confidence in the overall game…

    I won’t be surprised if he gifts this break here

  20. I think the problem is Rafa has convinced himself that Grigor is a future top player and he enters their matches with too much caution……He needs to get that out of his head

  21. I thought rafa had that double break pocketed but dimitrov came up with that incredible drop volley… so the possibility of an upset win is alive

  22. Well done Rafa! Clearly Rafa was not at his best, no disrespect to Dimi. But he found a way to focus in the 3rd set and win.

    So, who you got Ricky for Fedal?

  23. Rafa reverted to his bad old patterns in this match:

    1. stood way too far from the baseline to return serve, and as a result really did not have much play on the Dimi serve;
    2. delivered tentative attackable 2nd serves and Dimi capitalised;

    I am hoping this was just an off-day and he will re-discover his mojo tomorrow.

    Vamos Rafa!

    • exactly RITB
      and again going just fir forehand cc and the forehand DTL was way too off!
      he returned very bad especially those balls which came to his forehand side!
      in second set his balls was dropping too short!

  24. These young guns cannot seem to solve rafa ! gulbis has come close many times and grigor has played rafa tough too but they cannot match his fighting abilities…

    Lets hope this was just a rare off-the-radar performance from rafa , just like the one he had against ferrer in madrid…normally its good for rafa to win a tough match , it often brings the best out of him in the next matches…

    I pick rafa to win against federer…2 sets if rafa raises his level to what it has been recently , or rafa in 3 even if he is not so special…fed playing erratic tennis..Fed’s chance of winning is him obv serving extremely well, playing aggressive+clean tennis and hoping rafa is not at the level he had at the end of montreal’s

  25. Dimi lost 🙁 but me not much sad coz i got some gifts from mommy.. 😉 and also i think it will be great to see rafa vs fed

  26. yeah , RITB…but we are accustomed to seeing these patterns from rafa whenever he is not feeling confident about his game…rafa often talks about having great feelings and memories about a tournament, he is never at home at cincy so that might have made him a little more unsettle today when he already not finding his rhythm…. I am hoping the dark clouds have elapsed and it will be a bright sunny day as far as rafa’s performance is concerned 🙂

  27. @ clayqueen i never posted on TT but i used to visit that site so often 😉 so i know max guys are rafans .. no dimi delpo n murray fans here 🙁

  28. Maybe there is method to Rafa’s “madness”…………..

    He has a tough draw and maybe he is pacing himself, doing just enough to win and get to the next tough encounter. Fed won’t be easy (unless the Fed we saw today turns up), Muzza won’t be easy and Novak definitely won’t be easy…………

  29. I just fear rafa playing three taxing 3 setters in a row..esp against murray and djokovic…he needs to be 100% before the open

    • vamosrafa,

      That is what concerns me. This is why I very much wanted Rafa to win in straight sets against Dimitrov. He was five points from winning in that second set. That brought back some bad memories for me.

      I also think that maybe he’s not at home at Cincy. He really seemed to be out of sorts tonight. I don’t know that he will ever love this tournament. I do hope that this was just one bad day at the office for Rafa.

      If Rafa isn’t at his aggressive best, then this match may well go three sets. I would like to see Rafa get to the semis. I want to see Djoker meet Delpo in the semis. That should be a great match. Murray and Berdy could be interesting.

      This business of Rafa playing last doesn’t thrill me either. Djoker, Delpo and Murray will all be playing their matches much earlier in the day. Rafa hasn’t even played a day match. He and Fed will be the last quarterfinal match.

      I checked the program schedule and espn2 is showing the match live tomorrow. They wouldn’t dare let anything preempt that one!

  30. Dimitrov is good but not consistently so. After beating Nole in Madrid there was so much hype about their meeting at RG and that turned into a damp squib.

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