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Roger Federer had few problems as he breezed into the quarter-finals of the Hamburg ATP tournament with a straight sets third-round win over Czech opponent Jan Hajek yesterday. |
The Swiss ace, playing his second match since his second-round exit at Wimbledon last month, needed just over an hour to seal a 6-4, 6-3 win over the 29-year-old Hajek to reach the last eight.
Federer squandered 10 of his 13 break points, including five match points in the eighth game of the second set, but prevailed in 72 minutes. Having brushed off his Wimbledon cobwebs by fighting back after losing the first set to Germany’s Daniel Brand in Wednesday’s second round, the 31-year-old Federer fired down seven aces to Hajek’s two. Second-seed Tommy Haas also booked his place in the last eight with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq.
The 35-year-old German is bidding to win his hometown title for the first time in 11 appearances. He has won four of his 14 ATP World Tour titles on German soil and in the quarter-finals Haas faces 12th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini, who dismissed Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-4 in 90 minutes. The 26-year-old Fognini won his first tour title in Stuttgart last week, where he beat Haas in the quarter-finals.
Federer is using the 98-square-inch racquet, a step up from the 90-square-inch model he has used for years.
“I’ve been very close on numerous occasions to change racquets in a bigger way,” Federer told the ATP website after winning first round match, adding that his early loss at Wimbledon last month gave him the perfect opportunity to make the switch to a more modern weapon and level the playing field with his rivals. “But then very often, time was the issue, it was also a bit more difficult to change it because of the time.
“This time around, all of a sudden I just had the extra 10 days, two weeks I was looking for (after an early loss as holder at Wimbledon), and I really was very serious about it. Wilson (racquets) flew to Switzerland and we went through the whole process and I was very happy how things went over there.”
Williams cruises into last eight at Swedish Open
World number one Serena Williams survived a late second set hiccup to move into the quarter-finals of the Swedish Open with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili.
The American star remains unbeaten on clay this season after winning 25 straight matches including a perfect run on the way to her second French Open title and 16th Grand Slam singles crown in June.
She now faces 32-year-old Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino who came into the tournament ranked 54 in the world and seeking a third WTA victory, both on clay.
Williams was cruising after sealing the first set and easing into a 5-0 second set lead before wasting three match points and finally closing out the match 6-3.
“I’ve had a lot of time here but I’ve actually been spending a lot of time in the room, just staying focused on the event,” Williams said. “My main goal is to do well here. I love this city, but I really love the fans, and I feel like I want to do the best that I can here. I’m staying really focused, Grand Slam style.”
The other quarter-final match-ups feature Dutch hope Richel Hogenkamp against Czech Republic third seed Klara Zakopalova while French veteran Virginie Razzano takes on Italy’s Flavia Penneta.
Pennetta was 2-0 up in the final set against second seed Simona Halep in their second round match before the Romanian retired injured.
The final last eight tie sees the only Swedish player remaing in the draw, eighth seeded Johanna Larsson taking on Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson.