Roger Federer saved two match points and then won his third-round match at the Mutua Madrid Open. Twenty-four hours later, Federer saw two match points of his own go by the wayside and lost his quarterfinal contest.
The 37-year-old Swiss came tantalizingly close to what would have been a huge clay-court victory over Dominic Thiem, but the Austrian ended up prevailing 3-6, 7-6(11), 6-4 after two hours and 10 minutes.
Thiem fought off both of Federer’s match points during a dramatic second-set tiebreaker, with each one coming on his own serve. Federer erred on a backhand return on the first before a Thiem forehand approach shot proved to be too tough on the next chance. The 2018 Madrid and French Open runner-up eventually pulled out the ‘breaker before breaking Federer’s serve twice in the third set–decisively at 5-4.
“The test today was huge and tomorrow is a different game, of course,” said Thiem, who awaits Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. “But I was playing Novak last year and two years ago, and he was not at his best, I guess. Now he is again. He’s won the last three Grand Slams and he is at the top of the ATP rankings again. So the challenge couldn’t be bigger…. I’ll try to keep up my good momentum which I have now and give my best again.”
“I feel very good about my game,” Federer assessed. “I thought I had some good matches here, especially the last two (against Monfils and Thiem); first one (against Richard Gasquet) was good to get into it. Obviously Gael and Dominic are tough on the clay, so it was a good battle. I feel good on the clay right now.
“(It’s) frustrating, clearly,” said Federer. “Losing with match points is the worst, so that’s how I feel. But nevertheless, if I take a step back (and reflect), it’s all good.”
The other semifinal on Saturday will pit Stefanos Tsitsipas against either Rafael Nadal or Stan Wawrinka.
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nice one, Thiem
Very surprised that Federer is playing Rome. I’m not sure it is the right decision, but I have to assume that he and his team have assessed that it is. Either way, I think both in Rome and Paris, Federer is going to be able to fly under the radar and should be considered one of the leading contenders for both. Thiem’s match against Djokovic showed just how well he played to beat Federer, hitting lines all over the place at just the right times. Even still, Fed had good chances to win. I think that will repeat itself even on the slower surfaces to come and even in Bo5. If Fed can serve well, he will have good chances against anyone. We have to remember that Fed has played very little on clay with the new racquet.
https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Roger_Federer/67466/roger-federer-new-racket-allows-me-to-play-more-aggressively-easier-/