The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Federer drops a set to Berrer

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Thursday, Oct 25, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Federer drops a set to Berrer

Nicole Vaidisova rallies from a set down to get past Flavia Pennetta

Basel: Roger Federer found himself in danger of a rare second successive defeat on Tuesday before recovering to beat Germany’s Michael Berrer 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors.

Following his surprise loss to David Nalbandian in Sunday’s Madrid Masters final, the world number one had seemed back to his ferocious best as he ripped through the opening set. Beginning the defence of his hometown title with two aces and two service winners, the Swiss dropped just three points on serve while twice breaking his left-handed opponent.

But Federer then found himself trailing 4-0 in the second set after a string of uncharacteristic errors combined with some bold strokes by the World No. 56. Federer broke back in the next game but was unable to salvage the set. Faced with the prospect of losing two successive tour matches for the first time since May 2003 — falling to Mark Philippoussis in the third round of the Hamburg Masters and losing to Luis Horna in the first round at Roland Garros — the World No. 1 was rescued when Berrer double-faulted at break point to fall 4-2 behind. Federer still struggled to kill the match off and was taken to deuce at 5-3 before finally serving out with an ace and a service winner.

Laughable

“It’s almost laughable that I have to explain why I lost a set,” Federer said in an on-court interview. “It happens. I wish I could have played better in the second. I was struggling on serve and on the baseline. But I never felt 100 per cent comfortable all match.”

“My focus is on Basel, not last week,” Federer said. “That said, it’s a probably a good thing to get right back into it after a final loss.”

Second-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez also faced some early problems before winning his first-round encounter with French qualifier Jerome Haehnel. The World No. 8 had to defend a set point in the opening set against the World No. 242 before taking the subsequent tie-break and the second set.

Italy’s Francesca Schiavone booked a second-round clash with top seed Anna Chakvetadze at the Linz Open.

She fought off a set point before prevailing 7-6(6), 6-3 over Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik and now faces the top-ranked Russian for a place in the quarterfinals.

And, Nicole Vaidisova found herself in trouble, down a set against Flavia Pennetta, but eventually prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).

Chakvetadze, 20, was confirmed by the WTA as the latest to join the eight-player field for the season-ending Championships in Madrid, alongside Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams.

Eighth seed Sybille Bammer, playing in her home town, disappointed her supporters when she served for the match against Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama but was defeated 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.

Swiss sixth seed Patty Schnyder enjoyed a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over French qualifier Aravane Rezai.

The results: At Basel: ATP Swiss Open: First round: Tomas Berdych bt Feliciano Lopez 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3; Juan-Martin del Potro bt Michael Russell 5-2 ret.; Guillermo Canas bt Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-3; Andrey Golubev bt Amer Delic 6-4, 6-3; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-1; Roger Federer bt Michael Berrer 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Fernando Gonzalez bt Jerome Haehnel 7-6(5), 6-4; Ivo Karlovic bt Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-2.

At St. Petersburg: ATP St. Petersburg Open: Second round: Phillip Kohlschreiber bt Denis Matsukevitch 6-1, 6-1; Ernests Gulbis bt Nicolas Massu 6-1, 6-2. First round: Nicolas Massu bt Teimuraz Gabashvili 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Mikhail Youzhny bt Justin Gimelstob 6-2, 6-4; Potito Starace bt Kristof Vliegen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3); Mikhail Ledovskikh bt Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5, 6-3; Lukas Dlouhy bt Pavel Chekhov 7-6(5), 6-4.

At Lyon: ATP Lyon Grand Prix: Second round: Marc Gicquel bt Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-3. First round: Olivier Rochus bt Michael Llodra 7-6(6), 6-2; Thierry Ascione bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 7-6(3); Ivan Ljubicic bt Sam Querrey 7-6(5), 7-6(7); Benjamin Becker bt Arnaud Clement 7-6(0), 7-6(3); Oliver Marach bt Andreas Seppi 7-6(7), 7-6(5).

At Linz: WTA Generali Ladies Open: First round: Nicole Vaidisova bt Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4); Patty Schnyder bt Aravane Rezai 6-4, 6-3; Ai Sugiyama bt Sybille Bammer 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-0; Julia Vakulenko bt Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 6-7(0), 6-4; Francesca Schiavone bt Katarina Srebotnik 7-6(6), 6-3. — Agencies

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