Federer Booms—Nathan’s Notice

Written by: Staff on 18th February 2012

Federer Booms—Nathan’s Notice |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

Federer boomed in his semifinals match against Nikolay Davydenko, on Saturday. The match lasted a total of two hours and sixteen minutes with Federer winning, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. The first set was the most difficult for Federer with Davydenko breaking into a 5-4 lead before clinching it. The second set proved equally challenging at first with Davydenko rocketing off to a 3-1 lead, that is until Federer had enough. Federer then spun off five back-to-back games taking the second set.

Davydenko continued his streak of taking sets from the start into the third. Roger Federer had many chances to stop that from happening and take hold in the beginning but with Davydenko saving four break points Federer just couldn’t do it. This is the second time Federer has defeated Davydenko this season putting Federer’s head-to-head against Davydenko at 17-2. Following the match Federer stated, “These are the kinds of matches you need to help your confidence. Everything started to get better midway through the second set, and that’s very encouraging going into the final tomorrow.”

Federer faces No.10 Juan Martin del Potro in Sunday’s final. Del Potro defeated No.7 Tomas Berdych, 6-3, 6-1 in his semifinals match. Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro are currently 8-2 in their head-to-head encounters. This is del Potro’s first appearance in Rotterdam and because he is so close to winning the title he undoubtedly wants to make a big impression. The last tournament del Potro won was back in May at the Estoril Open.

Del Potro finished his semifinals match much stronger and quickly then Federer did, giving him a possible advantage. Del Potro shot a total of nine aces and won eighty-eight percent of his first serve points. The match lasted only one hour and fifteen minutes, a whole hour shorter then Federer’s match. Following his semifinals match del Potro commented, “I’m very happy as it’s my first victory against a Top 10 player this year. It means a lot for my confidence. I played a really good match today, my best of this tournament. And now I’m one step from winning the tournament, so I’m working for that goal.”

With both men’s confidence on high Sunday’s match will be filled with fantastic shots and play. Federer might show a few of the tricks he’s been holding up his sleeve after working with Paul Annacone. So far his dedication to attacking the return of serve and following it up immediately on the next shot have paid out enough to bring him to the Rotterdam finals. You can catch del Potro and Federer in the finals showdown after 2 pm on Sunday.

Topics: Roger Federer, Rotterdam