Federer cruises past Stepanek into Paris QFs

Top seed Roger Federer matched his best performance at the BNP Paribas Masters, reaching the quarter-finals for a fourth time with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Czech Radek Stepanek on Thursday evening in Paris.

Stepanek held level with the World No. 2 through most of the first set, even earning the first two break point chances, before Federer gained control, winning a string of five straight games to establish a set and 3-0 lead. The Swiss closed out the match in one hour and 19 minutes with consecutive love service games.

"He was serving good, he was accurate, he was coming in a lot, which I kind of expected," said Federer. " I just kind of felt it was gonna be a tough match to play. Thank God I already had a couple of really good return games and a good 10, 15 minutes which I was able to make a difference on, and then I could cruise home. I survived a scare early on when I was down break point and he was playing well, so it was a good match from my side."

Federer has now won 15 of his past 16 matches, reaching the final at the Shanghai Rolex Masters (l. to Murray) and claiming back-to-back titles in Stockholm and Basel, and will look to continue his form when he takes on Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the quarter-finals.

This will be the third meeting this season between the two 29 year olds, who had not played each other in tour-level action prior to this year. Federer won their fourth-round matches at Wimbledon and the US Open in straight sets.

While Federer has reached the final at the eight other ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, he has yet to advance beyond the quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Masters, falling at this stage in 2002-03 and '08.

Date: 12.11.2010, Source: ATP

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Roger breezes through

Roger defeated Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4 in his opening match in Paris today, setting up a third-round clash against Radek Stepanek.

Roger showed a fresh and strong display today. He scored a break early in either set, giving him the necessary comfortable lead. Roger completely dominated on serve - hitting 7 aces and 90 percent of his first services into the field. Gasquet did not see any break-balls during the entire match.

"It is always dangerous playing against Richard here," Federer said. "I don't think there was much between us except maybe a couple of games where I played really well."

Roger will now play Radek Stepanek in the quarter finals. The two had already met last week in Basel in the quarters, where Roger dominated 6-3, 6-2. Roger leads the head-to-head 9-2.

Date: 11.11.2010, Source: RF Official and ATP

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Federer relishes fast conditions; Aims to improve Paris record

Roger Federer, who has reached the BNP Paribas Masters quarter-finals in 2002-03 and 2008, admitted on Tuesday he hopes to do better this year at the final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season.

“This has been by far my worst [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000 tournament, so I hope I can do well this year,” said Federer, who lifted his 65th tour-level title at his home tournament, the Swiss Indoors Basel, on Sunday.

“I won't have much of a preparation. I'll hit an hour later on today, and that's about everything I'll get before my match tomorrow. [But] I'm happy that I'm feeling so well [and] I'm playing so well.”

Many players have commented this week about the fast court conditions at the Palais Omnisports in Paris-Bercy, but Federer isn’t fussed ahead of his first match against France’s Richard Gasquet.

“I think it's nice that some tournaments have made the courts faster again,” he said. “I'm not saying it should be the trend for all the tournaments, but indoors is supposed to be faster. We only have one indoor [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000, so I think it should be the fastest one.

“I just think it's good for the players, honestly, to experience again a faster court, and a bit of sort of two-shot tennis is fun for a change to do. It's tricky. It's not easy.”

Federer takes a 6-1 lead into his match against Gasquet on Wednesday. The pair has not met since June 2007 at Wimbledon.

“I believe he has the potential to become Top 10, there's no question about that,” admitted Federer. “But tennis has become more mental and physical than before. Maybe that's the reason why it's so difficult to become Top 10 overnight.

“I hope he won't start his way to the Top 10 tomorrow.”

Later this month, from 21-28 November, Federer will attempt to win his fifth title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Date: 09.11.2010, Source: ATP

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Federer twins watch their daddy wins the Swiss Indoors

 

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Roger Federer won a record fourth title in Basel

Roger Federer won his hometown title at the Swiss Indoors Basel for a record fourth time as he avenged his 2009 final defeat to Novak Djokovic with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over the Serb in Sunday’s final.

"It’s obviously a beautiful moment. It’s always very emotional and just a good feeling; I’m very happy," said Federer. "I’ve had a great history here. I can’t believe I’ve been in the final so many times and I’ve won already four times. I couldn’t be more happy today."

Basel-born Federer captured his 65th career tour-level title, taking him to fourth place on the Open Era Singles Titles List, one ahead of American Pete Sampras. It was the Swiss No. 1’s fourth title of the season, adding to triumphs at the Australian Open (d. Murray), Cincinnati (d. Fish) and Stockholm (d. Mayer) two weeks ago. He is the third player this year to win four tour-level titles, following Rafael Nadal and Sam Querrey.

"I have to back it up [in London] now. I’ve played three straight finals in a row; I’ve won titles back-to-back in Stockholm and Basel," said Federer. "Now I have a couple of days off and a travel day as well to get to Paris and play well there and it’s only then that the focus will really shift to London. I’d like to keep it up and play well in Paris and see how it goes from there.”

Top seed Federer made a fast start to his 18th meeting with Djokovic and broke serve in the third game as he quickly wrapped up a one-set lead. The second-seeded Djokovic was quick to respond, though, breaking Federer’s serve for just the second time this week in the second game of the second set to level the match.
Riding an eight-match winning streak, though, the confident Federer kept his focus in the deciding set and from 1-1 won five successive games to seal victory in just under two hours. Since squandering two match points in a five-set defeat to Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals, Federer has beaten the Belgrade native twice, also in the Shanghai semi-finals, and extended his career-lead in their head-to-head series to 12-6.

"Today obviously was the most dangerous match [of the week], I was playing the best player in the tournament," reflected Federer. "I had a tough final last year, pretty similar to this one this year, but it just went my way in the third set. We always play very athletic against one another, I always think it’s really close, they can go either way, so I’m happy I won the last three of the four. I had match point [against him] at the US Open and that one hurt, but look, this one makes up for it big time."

The 29-year-old Federer improved to a 38-7 record in Basel, where he once served as a ball boy, and has won 24 of his past 25 matches at the ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court tennis tournament. He won three successive titles from 2006-2008 before finishing runner-up to Djokovic last year; he also reached the final in 2000-2001.

Date: 08.11.2010, Source: ATP

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Roger Federer in Basel final

Roger only needed 70 minutes to defeat Andy Roddick in Basel tonight, making a clear statement with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

It was the first time after their memorable encounter in the Wimbledon final 2009 that Roger and Andy played each other today. Roger took a super quick lead, breaking Roddick when he first had the chance. He served 13 aces and was clearly the better player at the Swiss Indoors this time.

As Roger faces Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final, he has the opportunity to take revenge for the defeat against the Serb in last year's final, where Roger was deprived of a fourth title in his home town.

"Novak’s playing great at the moment and we just played three really good matches in a row, in Shanghai, the US Open and in Toronto," said Federer. "It’s going to come down probably to a couple of points here and there. I hope the spectators get behind me and that that’s going to make a difference this year."

"It’s always a lot of fun playing Andy Roddick. We’ve played each other over 20 times in our career, but we hadn’t played each other a lot lately so I think that’s why we were both a bit unsure at the beginning how we were going to play," explained Federer. "I really got off to a good start and could play more freely than he did. I was able to get a read on his serve and just felt comfortable, even when I went down a break in the second set. At the end I really played good tennis so I’m very happy with the way it went today.”

Date: 06.11.2010, Source: RF Official and ATP

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Federer chases 20th win over Roddick

Top seed Roger Federer has set a semi-final showdown with longtime rival Andy Roddick at the Swiss Indoors Basel after beating Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-2 Friday.  In a master class serving performance, Federer dropped just four points on his first serve and five points on his second serve.

“It was a tough match, even though the scoreboard showed it as pretty routine,” Federer said. “He makes you work hard and second guess your choices. I didn’t face a break point and that allowed me to take some chances on the return."

Federer, 29, the three-time Basel champion, is chasing a second consecutive title following his triumph two weeks ago in Stockholm. The Swiss World No. 2 has not faced a break point in his three wins en route to the semi-finals.

Federer is seeking a 65th career title to move into outright third position in the list of Open Era titles leaders. He also chases a 20th career win over Andy Roddick, whom he leads 19-2 in career meetings. They have met at least once a year for 10 straight years, dating back to their first meeting in 2001, which came in the Basel quarter-finals.

On facing Roddick, Federer said:  “I know the danger, I know the serve, I know his game.  We’ve faced off over 20 times in the past, but I’ve got to be ready for it. It’s not an easy draw to have Andy in the semis. We’ve both played three solid matches now so it will come down to who has the better day.”

Date: 06.11.2010, Source: ATP

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Quarters in Basel

Roger has made it through to the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors thanks to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Janko Tipsarevic (ATP 46).

"I played well, served well and had hardly any errors. This is about as good as it gets. If I can keep it like this for the whole event, that would be amazing," Roger commented.

Our champ dominated the match, winning all 25 of his first-serve points as he never faced a single break point. He broke serve easily in the second game of the match to take a 2-0 lead - a head-start that was just right to later close out the set with an ace at 5-3.

Roger continued in style, breaking again in the second set at 3-3 and only losing one single point in his next two service games.

Next up in Basel will be either Radek Stepanek or Santiago Giraldo on Friday.

Date: 04.11.2010, Source: RF Official

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Roger returns to Abu Dhabi

Six of the world’s leading tennis stars, including Roger and Rafael Nadal have been confirmed for the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi next month.

Robin Söderling, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis, complete an all-star line-up which will return to the recently upgraded Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex at Zayed Sports City from December 30 to January 1.

Announcing his return to Abu Dhabi for the third straight year, all-time great with 16 Grand Slam singles titles, Roger, said: “To win the Mubadala World Tennis Championship against such a strong field will be the perfect start to the 2011 season, as this world class tournament has put Abu Dhabi on the global tennis stage.”

Date: 03.11.2010, Source: RF Official

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Roger storms through

Roger successfully started his bid for a record fourth title at the Swiss Indoors in his home town Basel today. He defeated Alexander Dolgopolov 6-4 5-2, as the Ukrainian had to retire.

Roger took a 4-3 lead in the opening set as he converted the first of three break points. Dolgopolov had served strong in the first set, but the danger was reduced in the second set as a wayward forehand gave Roger an early advantage after a double-fault. Roger raced even further, taking a 5-2 lead and served for the match. As Dolgopolov was sprinting up to the net, he hurt his right ankle as he stretched to reach a drop shot.

Roger is looking to regain the title in his hometown after losing in last year's final against Novak Djokovic. He has previously won the title three times.

Roger will play either Denis Istomin (ATP 43) or Janko Tipsarevic (ATP 46) on Wednesday.

Date: 02.11.2010, Source: RF Official

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