Roger Federer guaranteed himself getting to 300 weeks as the World #1 by defeating Stan Wawrinka 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-0 in a tight match that could have gone either way.
The leader of Grand Slam titles had a sluggish start, and his friend and countryman Wawrinka took full advantage and played some splendid tennis to take the first set. Roger looked like he was in control of the second after going up a break, but then lost it right away. The set went to a tiebreak after Fed saved a break point at 4-4. He took an early lead in the tiebreak and didn't look back, wrapping up a very close second set that he probably should not have won.
In the third set, it was obvious Wawrinka had nothing left after fighting tooth and nail to come so close to winning the match, and the nosedive in quality of his play enabled Fed to pick his game up and go to the bakery, closing it out decisively, 6-0.
My thoughts:
The match reminded me a lot of the match Roger played against Igor Andreev in the first round of the 2010 Australian Open, Fed's 16th Slam. In that match, he was down early and avoided huge danger in the third set before winning it and then closing out the fourth set 6-0.
I hope the Great Swiss can gain confidence from this win, much like he did from winning in similar fashion against Nikolay Davydenko in Rotterdam in February (which feels like ages ago now). Next up in the quarterfinals is Marin Cilic, who got by Fernando Verdasco in three sets. The Croat is dangerous but unpredictable, and Fed should be able to win comfortably if he plays his game.
Getting to 300 weeks at #1 is just an amazing achievement. That mark is only 12 weeks shy of six full years with that #1 ranking, which, if you really think about it, is out of this world. Roger should be proud of what he has done this year in getting back the #1 and breaking this mark. I don't see anybody in the near future ever being able to accomplish it.
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In other action on the day, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray both cruised into the quarters with wins over Lopez and Dolgopolov. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Tomas Berdych both advanced, but the #6 seed Janko Tipsarevic was upset by Tommy Haas 62 61 and John Isner was taken out by Radek Stepanek in three.
The quarterfinal matches are as follows: Federer vs Cilic, Djokovic vs Haas, Murray vs Stepanek, and Tsonga vs Berdych. Watch out for Djokovic vs Haas; the two had an amazing clash in Toronto earlier in the year and it would be great to see the same kind of tennis being played here in Shanghai.
Until tomorrow,
Kyle.
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