Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro are on a collision course for the third round in Miami. They first have to win their respective openers on Saturday against Frances Tiafoe and Robin Haase.
(4) Roger Federer vs. (Q) Frances Tiafoe
Federer is still outside the top five at No. 6 in world, but he has been so good in 2017 that–only three months in–he can already start thinking about the year-end No. 1 ranking. The 35-year-old Swiss won the Australian Open, triumphed last week in Indian Wells, and boasts a 13-1 record for the 2017 campaign. Surprisingly, though, Federer has not been to the Miami final since 2006 and has not played the event since 2014.
Up first for the 18-time Grand Slam champion during second-round action at the Miami Open on Saturday is Tiafoe, whom he has never faced. Tiafoe suffered a near-collapse on Thursday while trying to set up this showdown against Federer, blowing a set and 4-1 lead over Konstantin Kravchuk before recovering for a 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory. The 19-year-old American is just 2-4 at the ATP level this season, but he successfully qualified for the Australian Open and reached the second round and also qualified in Acapulco on the way to a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1) loss to Juan Martin Del Potro. Based on Federer’s current form and the enormity of the moment for Tiafoe, this good experience for the youngster should not last long.
Pick: Federer in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Robin Haase vs. (29) Juan Martin Del Potro
Del Potro and Haase will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Saturday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Del Potro’s way; 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 at Wimbledon in 2012 and 6-3, 6-4 last fall on the indoor hard courts of Basel. After skipping the Australian Open summer, the Argentine is in decent enough form at the beginning of his 2017 campaign but has been plagued by tough draws due to his lower-than-deserved ranking. Del Potro recently lost to Novak Djokovic in both Acapulco (second round) and Indian Wells (third round).
Haase already owns eight ATP-level match victories this season, most recently defeating wild card Mikael Ymer 7-5, 7-6(3) on Thursday. The 48th-ranked Dutchman was a quarterfinalist in Auckland and a semifinalist in Dubai, so confidence is not lacking. Still, Haase’s defense is unspectacular and that is exactly what he will be playing on a consistent basis against Del Potro, who will have the added benefit of raucous crowd support in Miami.
Pick: Del Potro in 2
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Del Po in two losing more than eight games and fed in two losing five to seven games
sames
WWW?
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No thank you, too many RF worshipping for my liking ………
“Me”?
Well I just hope that you that you not comparing “Me” with you.
Don’t you?
Or do you.
maybe we should merge to even out the RN and RF supporters
Too many fed worshippers you say…
Hmmmm…..
Do you have timely and significant WTA polls, Luca?
Well Tiafoe at least pushed the first set to a TB and first set lasted 42 mins, so he won 6 games. Let’s see how many games he gets in set 2.
Wow, so Tiafoe breaks Fed’s serve in first game set 2, well done!
And then he lost his own serve next! I feel these youngsters are simply in awe of Fed, their idol, they’re unlike Rafa, Djoko and Murray, who weren’t in awe with Fed the first time they met him. Rafa even beat him the first time they met, Murray at the second time, not bad when Fed was at his peak then.
Special mention: Kygrios too, though Fed is his idol, he still beat him the first time they met.
I feel these youngsters simply are not as good as Rafa, Djoker and Muzz were. However Rafa first met Fed in 2004 when he was merely the hottest player on tour, not yet the GOAT.
Fed became world No. 1 in February 2004.
I’m curious if there is a single poster here that doesn’t know that Rafa beat Federer the first time they met.
Fed was just Baby Fed in 2004.
And CryBaby was just Stanlslas Wawrinka before he left his family and whined at the WTF.
#MirkasRight
It was the height of the dreaded Weak Era.
AT 10:01 PM,
And Mrs. Mirka was just Mirka in 2004.
As for ‘CryBaby’, the reality is that Mrs. Mirka couldn’t keep her mouth shut during the match between Fed and Waw at the 2014 WTF and called Waw ‘CryBaby’ BECAUSE he complained about that.
She looks like an angry animal:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7zBmzeXkAEiTCc.jpg
If world No.1 and a winner of 2 GS titles is ‘Baby’, then Andy Murray is almost Baby.
Why should Mirka “keep her mouth shut”?
It’s not a library.
CryBaby became self important after winning his first slam.
#MitkasRight
AT 10:47 PM,
Mrs. Mirka’s husband should have been fined for her rude behavior, according to the ATP Rulebook, page 178.
AT 11:08 PM,
No, Stan the Poor Example of a Man should have been suspended for his rude behaviour for being a WLB ever since he won his first slam (including his on-court whining.
An angry animal is she. Well now, that’s interesting. I’m curious why you describe her in that manner. I suspect I know why. In your picture, she is just sitting there calling CryBaby out for the WLB he is.
Mirka did nothing against the rules.
It is CryBaby that shows tennis in a bad light by abandoning his wife and young child to focus on tennis (and younger tennis player).
#MirkasRight
In celebration of #GOAT2.0’s victory over one of his biggest fans, it is now time for the latest installment of…
Fed? Or PseudoFed.
“We both came away from this match quite happy. That doesn’t happen often in tennis.”
#OnlyIfRoger Won