Roger Federer scored a big win over 22 year-old Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6(2) that launched him into the semifinals of a tournament for only the 6th time this season.
Roger started off in shaky fashion, going down 0-40 on his first service game but he fought to hold serve and not go down the early break that has been so regular this year. He couldn't get into the first three Dimitrov service games but after a love hold in the 5th game, the Swiss tightened the screws, getting the break at 3-3 and then the double break to close out the set.
In the second, one bad service game that featured a couple double faults cost Roger his serve. Skip ahead to later in the set, down 3-5, Fed saved a few set points and then broke back when Dimitrov missed an overhead. At 5-5, the Bulgarian went down 0-30 but to his credit fought back and forced a tiebreak. The most successful tiebreak player ever gained a quick mini-break and went up 5-2 before serving the match out.
It wasn't a classic performance by any means, but it was a win Federer needed. He fought hard, and apart from the one gaffe in the 2nd set, played a mentally solid match. Midway through the first set he started to find his range on his groundstrokes and showed glimpses of the real Roger, the one who plays freely without fighting his mind. Dimitrov did choke a little bit at the end of the 2nd set, but you know Fed took that gladly and it helped him cross the finish line.
Next up is Vasek Pospisil in the semis and the winner of that will very likely play del Potro in the final, who takes on Roger-Vasselin in the semis, the guy who took out Wawrinka. If all goes well, we will see a rematch of last year's final. But first things first, and that's Pospisil, who is no slouch and has the ability to hurt the Fed.
Onwards and upwards,
Kyle.
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