After the disappointment of his opening-round exit last week in Stuttgart, Roger Federer is looking to make amends next week as the top seed at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. The Swiss is an eight-time former champion at this ATP World Tour 500 grass-court tournament and goes in one win away from his 1,100th tour-level victory. Federer lifted the trophy in Halle in 2003-06, 2008, 2013-15 and is looking to win his 16th grass-court title. The 35-year-old Federer opens his campaign against Yen-Hsun Lu and could face Mischa Zverev in the second round; the German left-hander made the semi-finals in Stuttgart (l. to Lopez). View Halle Draw Federer is projected to face sixth seed Lucas Pouille in the quarter-finals,...
Roger Federer may have suffered a shocking upset in his opening round defeat on Wednesday to Tommy Haas at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, but he isn’t ringing alarm bells just yet. Although he squandered a match point in the second-set tie-break in losing to the home favourite, the match was filled with plenty of winners and high-quality hitting. However, Federer said that simply hitting well isn’t satisfying enough without it translating into a win. “Coming here and losing in the semis last year, now the opening round this year, it’s not what I was hoping to do. Especially on grass courts, close to home, in Germany, which has been a good hunting ground for me. It’s not good enough,”...
Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas successfully dialed back the years on Wednesday, saving a match point to shock Roger Federer 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The loss is only Federer's second of the season, and the Swiss star held match points during both of them. The 35 year old had three match points against World No. 116 Evgeny Donskoy during the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February. “I thought it was a typical grass-court match today. Rallies weren’t very long and it was decided on a serve there or a return here. If you don’t take your chances like I didn’t, leading a set and a break, you really only...
Tommy Haas is ready for one last run in Stuttgart. The 39-year-old German, who has said he will retire after this season, is making his seventh and final appearance at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart this week. Haas, who reached the final in 1999 when the tournament was played on clay, will be making his second appearance at the grass-court edition of the event. He fell in the second round in 2015, the first year the tournament had transitioned to grass. “I am very excited that my body is co-operating and I have the chance to play here one more time in Stuttgart,” Haas said on Monday. The right-hander is 4-8 so far this season but he has thrived on grass...
