Roger Federer improved to 54-5 lifetime at the Gerry Weber Open, including 47-2 in his last 49 matches, by holding off David Goffin 6-1, 7-6(10) during quarterfinal action on Friday afternoon. Federer broke serve a whopping six times in 10 return games to advance after one hour and 21 minutes.
“I thought it was my best match thus far,” the top-seeded Swiss said. “It is a good win for me and I’m clearly very happy to be in the semis.”
Federer spent part of the day scouting his semifinal opponent, Alexander Zverev. The 19-year-old German won an extended tiebreaker of his own in a 7-6(9), 6-3 victory over Marcos Baghdatis. Zverev erased a 6-3 deficit in the ‘breaker and ended up saving five set points.
“For me it doesn’t really matter what surface it is,” the world No. 38 explained. “It depends more on me, how I play, how I feel. I’ve played well on all four surfaces (including indoors). I’ve played well on clay; I’ve played well on hard at the beginning of the year. So, I can’t really say there’s a surface I don’t like or anything like that.
“I always enjoy playing at home (in Germany). It’s that simple. I always enjoy having the crowd behind me, I always enjoy playing in front of a big crowd. So, for me it’s always quite nice to play here and to play in Hamburg obviously, as well.”
“I thought Zverev played well,” Federer added. “He played a crucial, huge first set. Marcos should have won that but ended up losing it. The momentum goes Zverev’s way, one break and the match is over. So credit to Zverev for getting the job done.He’s got a big serve, he’s got a nice backhand, he’s improving his forehand,and he’s moving forward. He’s going to be a tough player in the future, no doubt about it.”
More evidence that the future is now–not only for Dominic Thiem but also for Zverev–is that Zverev will likely be seeded at Wimbledon. He is projected to reach No. 31 in the rankings on Monday even if he loses to Federer.
As for Federer, he has matched his semifinal result from last week in Stuttgart. Farther away from 100 percent physically than he is now, the world No. 3 lost to Thiem before the Austrian beat Philipp Kohlschreiber for the Stuttgart title. Thiem is looming large again this week, as he awaits Florian Mayer in the other Halle semifinal.
Halle quarterfinal highlights:
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