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, October 09, 2013

Federer wins in Shanghai Return

Playing in his first match since losing to Tommy Robredo in the 4th round of the US Open over a month ago, Roger Federer was victorious with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Andreas Seppi of Italy in the 2nd round of the Shanghai Masters.

Seppi, ranked 23rd in the world, was going to be a solid opponent for Roger returning after a long absence, and he was. Trying to shake the rust off and find his timing, the Swiss was broken in the 5th game but responded well, breaking right back. Seppi threatened to break the next few Federer service games but Roger held tough in classic Roger fashion. He played a good return game to get the break to win the 1st set, a crucial set for him to win knowing that he was having to work hard.

In the second set Roger began to raise his level and produced some very good tennis.  He broke early to get out to a 3-0 lead and started to find his timing and confidence as the match progressed. At 5-3 when he was serving it out, he went down 0-30 but hit a wicked 2nd serve ace that barely clipped the line and then fired an ace out wide. Two big serves and two big points, as he went on to hold and win the match.

After such a long time off, nobody was expecting a vintage Federer performance, and it wasn't. He struggled at times on the serve and off the ground, but he fought well and worked on the kinks throughout the match. The good news is that he hit some good serves on important points and his net game was working brilliantly. His fitness looked very good as well and in the 2nd set he played one magnificent point where he was running side to side but defended with the grace of a younger, faster man.

Next up is Gael Monfils, who took out Vasek Pospisil (who took out Richard Gasquet). Fed hasn't played the Frenchman since the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 2011. Roger should win but Gael is a good player and has beaten Fed in this part of the year before, in Paris in 2010.

On a final note, I see that Roger is becoming more comfortable on Twitter as of late, answering many questions with the hashtag #askRF. We know that Roger has a good sense of humour, but it really shines through in writing.

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