Roger Federer outlasts Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach last eight – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
In match between two former top ranked players, current world number two, Roger Federer, survived the second set scare to rally past Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in the third round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia
in Rome, Italy on Thursday.
Federer and Ferrero started the match steadily, grabbing their serve in the first five games of the opening set to take the score to 3-2 in the former’s favour. The Swiss Maestro captured three consecutively afterwards, striking
in the sixth and eighth to close it 6-2.
The 30-year-old dictated his opponent with the help of his magnificent serves, as he bombarded four aces on Ferrero and converted 13 of the 14 of them into points in the opener. Meanwhile, he stood strong against the Spaniard’s
first deliveries, winning nine of the 17 points on them.
Federer and Ferrero gave splendid performance on serves in the second set, as they did not lose it in the first 10 games to level the score at 5-5. The Spanish star played a couple of extraordinary points to break Federer in the
11th and served it out at 6-5.
Ferrero maintained a near perfect record on his first serves, banging in 90 percent of them correctly and pocketing 25 of the 35 points. The 6ft tall put away all the three break points he came across and utilised the only one
he received in the second set.
In the decider, Federer changed his game plan after getting stunned in the previous set. The Swiss legend started to attack Ferrero and the trick worked, as he won first three games to open up a 3-0 lead. He allowed the Spaniard
to claim only one game in the entire set, breaking him again in the sixth and capitalising on it to triumph 6-1.
Federer pounded three aces and did not commit any double fault in the decider. The Bottmingen, Switzerland resident secured nine of the 11 first and seven of the nine second serve points. The father of two girls, Federer, returned
so well that he succeeded in bagging six of the seven second reply points.
It took the 16-time Grand Slam winner one hour and 47 minutes to post win over Ferrero.
The Swiss Maestro is aiming to capture his first Internazionali BNL d’Italia title, ending as the runner-up in 2003 and ‘06.
Federer will face unseeded Italian, Andreas Seppi, to book his place in the semi-finals.
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