Welcome



This is my tennis blog, Lefty Advantage. Tennis is my biggest passion in life and I started this site to discuss the great game. I mainly follow the career of Roger Federer, but I truly love watching all tennis, whether it be the final of a Grand Slam
or a junior tournament on the other side of the world.

I have played tennis for 13 years. If you ever met me, I could talk your head off about all things tennis for hours on end if you would let me. Welcome, and enjoy the writing!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Federer Breezes Through Rome Opener

Three days after winning his 20th Masters title in Madrid against Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer stormed through his first match in Rome against Carlos Berlocq, winning 63 64 in just over an hour.  Roger will next play former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 3rd round.

It was a simple match for Federer overall, which is a good sign after his status for the tournament was questionable after the win in Madrid.  Roger got the early break and held out from there to take the first.  He also got an early break in the second before getting broken back by the 38th ranked Berlocq.  However, Roger broke again in the 9th game and consolidated the break to win the match.



The first thing I noticed about the change from Madrid to Rome was how much harder it was to pick up the ball on the orange clay of Rome as opposed to how easy it was to find the ball in Madrid.  Say what you will about the surface, but it made the viewing experience much better.

A good sign for Roger's game is that he has continued to be as aggressive as he was in Madrid.   He played 23 points at the net, winning 18 of them.  It is always good to see Roger come in to the net, even on clay; it means he is the one dictating rallies, and when he does that, he is practically unbeatable.



In other action of the 2nd round, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic came through in straights against Florian Mayer and Bernard Tomic.  Andy Murray needed three sets to fight through David Nalbandian, and on his birthday no less.  John Isner was disappointing yet again in a loss against Andreas Seppi - his chances of doing well at the French Open appear to be getting worse and worse.

The 3rd round lineup looks very good:

(1) Novak Djokovic vs (14) Juan Monaco
(2) Rafael Nadal vs Marcel Granollers
(3) Roger Federer vs Juan Carlos Ferrero
(4) Andy Murray vs (16) Richard Gasquet
(5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs (10) Juan Martin del Potro
(6) David Ferrer vs (11) Gilles Simon *
(7) Tomas Berdych vs (12) Nicolas Almagro
Stanislas Wawrinka vs Andreas Seppi

(*: Match of the Round)

Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer should win in straights.  All the other matches could go one way or the other.  For Roger in particular, if he gets by Ferrero, he should have a safe path to the semis, because his quarterfinal opponent will be Wawrinka or Seppi, two guys that can't beat Roger when he's playing like this.  Isner was the only guy in Fed's quarter I could see doing damage, and he went out.

Until next time,

Kyle.

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