The 17-time Grand Slam champion capitalized on a break chance at 4-3 in the first set before suddenly finding himself trailing 3-0 in the second. But Jaziri could not force a third, as the Tunisian’s third donation of serve at 5-5 proved to be decisive.
“I thought he was reading my serve throughout the first set, so I started to serve a little bit different in the second set,” Federer explained. “I was having more success that way. I was happy to come through a tough match because I thought he’s tough to play against. I struggled to read his technique; the way he gets into the ball I can’t really tell where he goes.
“I wish I could have played maybe a bit better at times but I must put it down to my opponent keeping me off balance. He was doing a really nice job of making me feel uncomfortable for a while.”
The 34-year-old Swiss could also run into some difficulty against a red-hot David Goffin in the quarterfinals on Friday. Goffin advanced to semifinals in Indian Wells and Miami earlier this year and is coming off a quarterfinal run at the French Open.
On Thursday, though, the 11th-ranked Belgian flirted with disaster against Sergiy Stakhovsky. Stakhovsky served for a straight-set victory but failed to close it out and eventually retired with a back injury sustained during a fall. Goffin was leading 4-6, 7-5, 2-0 when it ended.
On the other side of the draw, Dominic Thiem and Philipp Kohlschreiber are set to go head-to-head for the second time this week. They just faced each other in the rain-delayed Stuttgart title match on Monday, with Thiem triumphing in three sets. The Austrian easily handled Teymuraz Gabashvili in the Halle second round, while Kohlschreiber edged Ivo Karlovic in three.
Thursday highlights:
Federer interview:
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