Roger Federer steals a win against Milos Raonic to clear the quarters – Gerry Weber Open 2012
Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, edged past the Canadian number one, Milos Raonic, in the quarter-final of the Gerry Weber Open on Friday. It was a thrilling encounter lasting a couple of hours; featuring two set tie-breakers. Raonic
sneaked the first set tie-break 7-6(4) but the 30-year-old Swiss grabbed the following two sets 6-4, 7-6(3).
The opening set witnessed a complete domination of serve holds at both ends. No player was able to test his rival and therefore no single opportunity of a breakthrough was created throughout the set. In a tie-breaker round, Raonic
inched ahead with an early mini-break and grabbed the set.
Trailing one set down, the second seed Swiss had a class start to the second set of the match; winning a breakpoint in the first game and doubling the lead with a commanding serve hold to love. The Canadian wasn’t able to test
the former world number one in the return games except the fourth game when he was close on breaking serve but failed to do so. Federer kept on capitalizing the serve games and won the second set with a cracking serve hold.
Stage was set for another gruelling battle. It proved to be a classic end to a hyped up clash. No breakthroughs were witnessed throughout the set enforcing the tie-breaker to decide the winner. Raonic fired in 25 aces in the ace
compared to just nine of his rival but the loss at the final tie-breaker crushed down his dream of capsizing the Swiss legend in his third head-to-head clash of the year.
In an interview conducted at the end of the match, Federer stated, “It was the third time in three or four months that we played each other. We know each other a bit better now. But it still makes it as difficult to break each
other’s serve. Somehow I had the feeling that it was going to be 7-6 in the third. I just hoped it was going to be in my favour. It was difficult. It will be more tactical like the match against Mayer. I played a good match against Mikhail in Wimbledon last
year. We had four tough sets and it was close. I’ll have to play extremely well.”
Roger Federer locks horns with the 31st ranked Russian superstar, Mikhail Youzhny, to hunt down a spot in the semi-final of the tournament. It is expected to be another crushing battle.
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