Federer pays penalty for missed chance

Roger Federer squandered a match point as he was shocked by German veteran Tommy Haas in the second round of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

The 39-year-old Haas, who is playing his final season on the tour after a series of injury problems, battled to a 2-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 win in just under two hours.

Federer was playing his first tournament since he won the Miami Open in April after choosing to skip the clay court season to prepare for his favoured grass.

The Swiss star cruised through the first set in 23 minutes and broke early in the second, but Haas deployed all of his experience to fight back.

Federer hit a backhand long on a Haas second serve when he held match point in the tie-break, and the German punished him by converting his fourth set point.

Haas stepped up in the final set, saving three early break points before breaking for 3-1 and maintaining his advantage to clinch a memorable victory.

Aljaz Bedene is through to the quarter-finals of the Ricoh Open in s’Hertogenbosch, gthe Netherlands, after a straight-sets win over Ernesto Escobedo.

The British number four has made a promising start to his grass-court campaign and defeated young American Escobedo 6-3 6-4.

Bedene, ranked 59, took three of his eight break points and did not face a single break point, winning 27 of the 28 points in which he landed his first serve.

In the last eight he will face either fourth seed Gilles Muller or Italy’s Andreas Seppi.

Top seed Dominika Cibulkova suffered a shock first round defeat to world number 161 Antonia Lottner at the women’s event in s’Hertogenbosch.

The former Australian Open champion struggled on her serve throughout and her German opponent took full advantage to pull off a 7-5 2-6 6-4 upset win.

In second-round action, seventh seed Lesia Tsurenko made it safely through with a 6-2 6-3 win over Petra Krejsova of the Czech Republic.

Germany’s Andrea Petkovic fell 6-3 5-7 6-2 to Natalia Vikhlyantseva, and there were also wins for Anett Kontaveit and Carina Witthoeft.

Picture: Getty. Tommy Haas defeated Roger Federer.