Roger Federer vs Andy Roddick – Quarter-final preview: Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
It has all come down to only eight men in the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel, as the quarter-final rounds get started from Friday afternoon. The two former world number one players, Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andy Roddick of
the United States, will be competing against each other on Friday evening in the quarter-final clash.
The highly anticipated contest will be staged on the indoor hard courts of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, with the winner of the matchup getting a place in the semi-final rounds of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 500 event.
Seeded at number three in the tournament, the Swiss Maestro has registered two comprehensive victories in the tournament so far to reach the final eight. Federer outplayed Potito Starace of Italy in the opening round and then overcome
the unseeded Finn competitor, Jarkko Nieminen, in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, to book a date with the seventh seed Roddick in the quarter-finals.
Federer has only bagged one ATP championship title in the running season so far and is struggling to get back his vintage form. The defending champion looks in a brilliant touch on his home soil and appears as if he might go on
to successfully defend his championship title this time. Federer has already registered 51 victories in the season, while 12 defeats are recorded to his name.
The seventh seeded American, who is 33-14 in the current year so far, had an impactful beginning to the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel by dumping Tommy Haas of Germany in straight sets in the opening round. Roddick then went on to
take down world number 25, Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic, in the second round and recovered from a one-set deficit to finish off the contest in his favour at 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the quarter-final stage.
Roddick took a sloppy start in his last match against Stepanek, something he can’t afford to do against a lethal opponent like Federer. These two men have face each other on 22 different occasions, with the Swiss maestro leading
with 20 wins and Roddick having merely 2 in his pocket. Their last meeting took place in the semi-final of the same venue in 2010, when Federer ravaged the American in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, to march into the final of the tournament.
Roddick’s last victory over Federer came at the Miami Masters in 2008, when he outplayed the Swiss in a three setter. Federer has won five matches in a row against him since then. Roddick was worried about his first serve in the
contest against Stepanek in the second round and vowed to take it to a higher level in the clash against the world number three on Friday.
“I was frustrated that I didn’t get more first serves in court [in the first set], but regardless of how badly you play in set one, it’s still only one set and I just tried to remind himself of that and luckily I played better
in the last two," said Roddick, reflecting on his second-round win. "I thought he had a pretty good serving day, so to be able to break four times was good for me. Obviously it’s a tall order [against Federer], but I’ll go out there and give it a go and hopefully
come out on top.”
Federer is clearly the hot favourite for winning the Friday’s contest and it is anticipated that it will be a three setter with a nail biting finish.
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