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.
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.
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
[polldaddy poll=7322416]
who ya got?
Fed in 3
Fed in 3
i’ll go with Fed.
I want Fed to win. I want another Fedal, this time in Fed’s house………….
^^^ same
Ricky, how about ‘Congrats, Rafa’ on your logo?
Yes, rooting for Federer for ulterior motives, of course.
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.
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.
Fed’s come to play…………..
Is Fed tanking this?
When’s Fed firing Anaconda?
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.
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.
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.
Fed in press just now on being down 6-1, 3-1: “I wasn’t euphoric about it.”
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.
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 🙁
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?
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