Federer, Thiem headline Halle field

Time will tell if Roger Federer’s decision to skip the clay-court swing pays off at Wimbledon–and, less importantly, this week in Halle–but it did nothing of the sort in Stuttgart, where the 35-year-old Swiss lost his opening match to Tommy Haas. Despite the setback, Federer did not sound overly concerned.

“It wasn’t all bad, not at all,” the 18-time Grand Slam champion assessed. “There were definitely some good moments, but I definitely was not as sharp as I was hoping to be in maybe the big moments, or the moment when I had the lead and where I feel I should have been cruising from that moment on. I made some crucial mistakes and judgment errors.”

Federer has a chance to rebound at the Gerry Weber Open, where mistakes have been few and far between throughout his illustrious career. The current world No. 5 is 54-6 lifetime at the event and he had won 15 matches in a row before falling to Alexander Zverev in last year’s semifinals.

A Federer-Zverev rematch in the final could be in the cards this time around.

Federer first opens with stellar grass-courter Yen-Hsun Lu before a possible date with Australian Open quarterfinalist Mischa Zverev. The top half of the draw also features Kei Nishikori, Stuttgart finalist Lucas Pouille, ‘s-Hertogenbosch finalist Ivo Karlovic, Benoit Paire, Fernando Verdasco, and Karen Khachanov.

The younger Zverev brother is on a collision course for the semis with good friend Dominic Thiem, who reached the French Open semifinals before succumbing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Zverev finds himself in a section with Philipp Kohlschreiber and Dustin Brown, while Thiem could run into quarterfinal trouble in the form of either Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Bernard Tomic, or Tommy Haas.

Quarterfinal predictions: Federer over Paire, Karlovic over Khachanov, Alexander Zverev over Dustin Brown, and Bernard Tomic over Dominic Thiem

Semifinals: Federer over Karlovic and Zverev over Tomic

Final: Federer over Zverev

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