Federer Advances at German Tennis Championships

July 18, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg

In his first match since his loss in the second round at Wimbledon, Roger Federer came back from a set down to beat Daniel Brands 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the German Tennis Championships. He served three aces in the first game while debuting a bigger racket, but Brands was able to break and go on to win the first set. Hamburg is the tournament that Federer won in 2002 to break into the top 10 and he is a four-time winner there since then. After his loss to Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon, Federer dropped to fifth in the world, his lowest ranking in the past 10 years. This match was on Brands’ 26th birthday, but that didn’t make Federer want to give away any points, as Federer had three match points before finally closing it out on his fourth try. Federer and his bigger racket had nine aces in the match.

”It was a tough match. Daniel is playing a very good season,” Federer said.

Federer’s next opponent will be Jan Hajek from the Czech Republic who beat Ernersts Gulbis 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to make it to the next round.

Tommy Haas made it to the third round in Hamburg by defeating qualifier Blaz Havcic of Slovenia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Haas had a significant lead of 4-1 in the third, but Kavcic tried to make a comeback and Haas was able to hold and then break Kavcic, who ended the match by hitting a forehand out.

”At the end, it’s the victory that counts,” Haas said.

After being runner-up in Hamburg last year, Haas is looking for another title in his home country, after winning in Munich. He is also the oldest player in the top 100, at the young age of 35.

Wimbledon semifinalist Jerzy Janowicz of Poland beat Robin Hasse of the Netherlands 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4), and Juan Monaco of Argentina defeated Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4. A few other seeded players went down in Hambrug, including the sixth-seeded Andreas Seppi, number 10 Tommy Robredo, number 13 Mikhail Youzhny and number 16 Martin Klizan. Feliciano Lopez, Fabio Fognini and Fernando Verdasco were all able to make it to the next round.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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