It was the first meeting between Roger and Petzschner on the ATP-Tour. The first set was a tough fight on both sides. Roger conceded two breaks in the opening set, but managed to score two breaks himself, eventually prevailing in the tie-break. Roger then secured the only break in the second set and served out the match to end Petzschner's resistance.
Roger will now meet Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt (ATP 31) in the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle tomorrow at 1:00 pm (local time).
Interview with Roger Federer:
Congratulations. This guy can be tricky with a very aggressive play and slicing all the backhands?
FEDERER: Yes, absolutely. I knew that before the match. I think I mentioned yesterday, he's a good player, he has good potential and is talented. You can see it in the way he plays. He is very relaxed and he can play in different ways. So, that can work in his favour but also against him because you have sometimes few too many options. Today, definitely he started playing out aggressive, saying if he gets a chance on my forehand, I’ll hit it. And many of them worked. That’s why he was very dangerous from the start, even took chances, he came over the backhand a couple of times and the return, that kind of also paid off. So, everything he was trying was working and it was playing in his favour a lot. So, it was a tough start for me to get into the match, to get a feel of how he plays. Because if you watched him this past week he was more waiting for mistakes, not taking too many chances, mixing up with his slice. And today he came out much more aggressive. He has a game that allows him to do that kind of stuff because he doesn't mind if the rallies are short or long, because he just likes variation like I do, too. It was an interesting match for me, especially playing him for the first time. I’m happy the way I played because it wasn’t easy but I found a way which was great.
Tomorrow Lleyton. You know this kind. Obviously you know how to win. So, what we say about that match?
FEDERER: It’s always special playing him. We go way back. We even played doubles together in Wimbledon one year. He made the breakthrough so early in his career that to me, I kind of looked up to Lleyton, how could he be so good so early, because I had so many issues in my game. I knew I was very talented, but I knew I could never beat five top guys in a row which he was able to do at 16. I think I definitely drew inspiration from him and Safins, Ferreros who came through the rankings maybe a bit faster than me. I think that the shadow from them helped me grow stronger without that pressure even though I had pressure from national media as well. Because they then said “Lleyton does it, so you should do it, too.” (laughs). But he was the youngest No. 1 in the world we ever had. So, he did special things which I will never get a chance to do. It’s amazing how many times we’ve played, it’s amazing the record I have now against him after starting off with a tough head to head record against him, actually.
What is the level of motivation knowing you have already won so many tournaments?
FEDERER: Motivation is very simple: I love the game. I don’t overplay. I play select few events, tournaments and Grand Slams, so I always can get up very easily for those. I have many fans screaming my name in the stadium and outside. So, it’s something I really enjoy. I remember it wasn’t like that when I came up on Tour. They would mistake me for other players. So, I knew I had some work to do. Today, it is so different. I know the places, I know the people, I know how kind this works. I enjoy the Tour very much. It’s easy to get up for a full stadium every time. If you can’t get up for those kind of matches it’s better to quit. But I’m not there.
Date: 12.06.2010, Source: RF Official and Gerry Weber Open
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