Federer comes through tough test at Halle
HALLE, GERMANY: Defending champion Roger Federer overcame a second-set stumble and saved two match points before defeating Benoit Paire to reach the Gerry Weber Open quarter-finals.
The world No 1, needing to retain this title to keep his place in the rankings, was worked hard but emerged a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7) winner to remain unbeaten since his return to action for the grass-court season.
Paire matched Federer comfortably early on, but his frustration was evident when he missed an opportunity to break into the lead, allowing the top seed to take control.
If the Frenchman had gifted his opponent the advantage, he ensured the remainder of the match was less straightforward, yet Federer’s resolve told and a 10th title in Halle is still on the cards.
Following a steady start, Federer was forced to save the first break point after he failed to make contact with a volley from Paire’s measured lob.
But the Swiss ruthlessly closed that opening and then edged in front, profiting as Paire found the net and then smashed his racquet into the grass as his rage built.
Federer took the set and was straight onto the front foot in the second, but he squandered a couple of early break points and Paire made a gain of his own in a dominant next game.
THIEM SHOCKED
Japan’s Yuichi Sugita shocked Dominic Thiem to send the Austrian out in the second round late on Wednesday, 6-2, 7-5,
Third seed Thiem, French Open runner-up to Rafael Nadal earlier this month, was joined on the sidelines of the preWimbledon tuneup by Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori, a 6-2, 6-2 loser to Karen Khachanov.
MUGURUZA LOSES
BIRMINGHAM: Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza suffered a 6-2, 6-4 defeat at the hands of unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova in the second round of the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham on Thursday.
The experienced Strycova, a runner-up at this Edgbaston tournament in 2014 and 2016, picked up a double break early in the first set and eventually defeated the top seed with surprising ease in just under one and a half hours.