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
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wowww wbat the hell with you sana.. you predicted 2 times here & correct predictions wow.. so you are on a winning streak 2 😉 no??
BTW i think ricky don’t likes me.. he didn’t welcome me here :'( 🙁
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.
Rafa in one easy and one tough set
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.
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 🙂
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!!
Sloppy play from Rafa but still set 1 om the bag with 2 breaks
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!
Does anybody get the feeling that Rafa does not really want to be there?
No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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…….
Best service game by Rafa so far….2/2
Vamos!!
Dimi donates 2 double faults and Rafa breaks……
Who will win more games – Baby Fed or Papa Fed?
Doh!!
Dimi breaks back…..oh Rafa……
Vamaos! Vamos! Wake up……
RITB, you tell me. Doesnt Rafa look sluggish out there. What’s up?
not good rafa, not good.. dimitrov is so quick though…reached the passing shot so well
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………..
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…………
What the F. How can he get broken twice to a SHBH