Even the heatwave didn't bother him! Roger Federer is in the Quarterfinals of the GERRY WEBER OPEN after a real lawn-classic. In a highly entertaining match the Swissman was able to overcome the German no. two Mischa Zverev in sweltering high temperatures 7:6 (4), 6:4.
"Mischa played a great match. I don't really like always attacking, but he does that very well. It could have gone the other way as well. Mischa can be proud of his performance", Federer, just gone through to the Quarterfinals, first said towards his defeated German opponant, who in the forth match against Federer was still with loss of set, but showed a courageous performance.
Roger Federers backhand is perhaps the shot that has impressed tennis year 2017 - and it also decided the first set in the Round of 16 against Mischa Zverev. Over 11,000 spectators in the sweltering GERRY WEBER STADION saw classic lawn tennis with many net attacks in which both players regulated lots by their service. While the German wasn't to pleased with his first service, Federer faulted too often, before returning better further to the end of the set.
In the ninth game the Maestro left three set points unused, so the decider had to be saught in the tiebreak. Now the backhand-return by the eight-times GWO-champion improved and precisely this shot got him the mini-break which decided the set.
The clash had now took up speed, even though Federer made too many mistakes for his means: in the end, the Swissman had 27 „unforced errors“. On the other hand he didn't let anything get in the way of his service. The very defensive positioned Zverev only could get three points against Federers Service in the second set. On the other side, the "Fed-Express", as before in set one, took up more and more speed in the "Crunch Time“. A forehand-cross on Zverevs feet brought a break point for the favourite, which he converted to make it 5:4. In the meantime the German no. two left nothing untried, but in the end Federer showed his supremacy on the grass in Halle and ended his working day after exactly 90 minutes with a second match point.
"Mischa does the angles very small. I had to play close to the line. That's where just a few centimetres make a difference. But that was for sure the best match on grass this season. Luckily I feel a hundred percent fit. Perhaps there will be another few balls on the line", the Swiss stated.
On Friday the next German awaits him. Florian Mayer, the titleholder. "It will be a different match. Flo has wonderful variations in his game. I have already had to play tough against him here. It will surely be a tough match", Federer said and is already looking towards the Quarterfinal-Friday. By the way, Federer and Mayer are playing against each other for the third time and it is their eighth match of the ATP World Tour. The previous matches were all won by Roger Federer.
