After losses in semifinals of both Stuttgart and Halle, there were some question marks about Roger Federer’s form. He seemed to get lucky with the draw, when for the opening match he drew Guido Pella of Argentina. The World No. 52 has never won a match on the grass surface in his entire career. That said, he definitely did not make the match easy for Federer, and provided the audience with great shots and rallies throughout the length of the match. The first set had Federer playing a bit carefully and safe. Nonetheless Federer didn’t have any problems on his serve, and had two break points. He didn’t break, so the set went into a tiebreak, where the Swiss was in control. Federer took a lead of 3-0, and kept it until 6-2. Pella saved 3 set points, but lost the set.
Federer was more daring in the second set, and started to be more aggressive on return, while remaining flawless on serve. The World No. 3 had for break points in the opening game of the second set and two more at 4-5. Federer lost only 5 points on his serve in the second set, including the tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Federer again got to a lead of 6-2, but this time Pella saved only one set point. The third set was Federer’s best. He lost only 3 points on serve, and he finally got a break in the match, for 5-3. Federer ended the match with a clean game.
“I was walking out thinking to myself ‘it’s so nice to be out here’. I’ve worked so hard since February to be here fully fit. I didn’t want to have miss Wimbledon. We’ll see how fit I am – nobody knows, not even myself. But I’m just happy to be here.” Federer said after his opening round win.
Roger Federer will face the surprise and the story of the tournament Marcus Willis. Willis ranked No. 772 received a wild card for the qualification, where he defeated Sugita, Rublev and Medvedev. He continued to surprise the world of tennis with his straight set win over Ricardas Berankis in the first round. Willis will be the lowest ranked opponent of Roger Federer since the Swiss faced Takao Suzuki ranked No. 1078 at an ATP tournament in Tokyo in 2006.
