Roger Federer dismisses Benjamin Becker to clear the opening round – Swiss Indoors Basel 2012
Reigning world number one, Roger Federer, put away the challenge of the spirited German player, Benjamin Becker, in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel in Switzerland.
The Swiss star bounced back from a break down in the second set to capture the contest in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 after playing for one hour and 28 minutes.
Federer and Becker served brilliantly in the first set, as they did not allow each other to break serve in the first 11 games, taking the score to 6-5 in favour of the former. The German contender was unable to win his serve at that moment and went down 5-7.
Second set went with serve in the first four games, squaring off the proceedings at 2-2. Becker struck in the fifth to move ahead 3-2 but one of the best players in the history of the sport, Federer, responded immediately to even it out at 3-3. The Swiss Maestro hit another blow to Becker in the eighth game and then held his following serve to close it 6-3.
Federer appreciated his opponent’s efforts while talking to the reporters during the post match press conference. The Swiss star said, "He did well. He did serve well when it was important, so credit to him. When I did have my small chances, I hope I could’ve done a little bit better, but overall I’m still very happy with tonight’s performance.”
The top seed is bidding to win this ATP World Tour 500 hard court event for the sixth time. He added, "Ever since my first win here, the pressure has actually gone instead of increased, in my opinion. I feel I can come here and just perform, enjoy and try my best. It’s pretty simple, actually, the approach.”
Federer has to defend all of his last year’s ranking points in order to remain in contention for the year end number one ranking. He went on to say, "I know if I lose, I lose points, but I’ve so long gone over this hurdle of having to defend points and this whole rankings system.”
The Swiss legend will play either Thomaz Bellucci or Go Soeda in the second round.
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