Roger Federer: "I did not even know a few days that Stan was in my section of the draw" - UBITENNIS
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Roger Federer: “I did not even know a few days that Stan was in my section of the draw”

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Roger Federer beat Misha Zverev in straight sets 6-1 7-5 6-2 to reach the semifinal at the Australian Open for the second consecutive year and for the 13th 13th time in his career. The Swiss Maestro has secured his spot in the 41st Grand Slam semifinal in his career. Federer is the oldest player to qualify a Grand Slam semifinal since Jimmy Connors, who reached the last four at the 1991 US Open.

 

“I am pleased with the way I started the match. Right away again I got off to a good start against him, like I did against him a few years ago. After that, everything is easier. The second set was a key to shut it down for him. It was good that I was able to break back after he played a good game there. In the third set I was rolling. It was a nice match. I think I played great. Misha had a wonderful tournament, so well down to him”

Roger said that the thing that has most surprised him in the eight matches he has played since his come-back to the court after an absence of six months was his ability to win back-to-back matches in best-of-five sets against great players like Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori and Misha Zverev. Federer will face his compatriot Stan Wawrinka in a blockbuster semifinal but admitted that he did not even know a few days ago that Stan was in his section of the draw.

“That’s been for me the big question mark, if I could win back-to-back matches in best of-five sets so early in my comeback. I felt I was always going to be dangerous on any given day in a match situation. As the tournament would progress, maybe I would fade away with energy. Now that I am in the semifinals, feeling as good as I am, that’s a huge surprise to me. Like I said on the court, if someone would have told me I’d play in the semis against Stan, I would never have called that one for me. For Stan, yes, but not for me. I honestly I didn’t even know a few days ago that he was in my section of the draw or I am in his section. I figured it out that he was playing on my days, but I never really looked in that quarter of the draw because that was just unrealistic for me”.

Federer said that he was surprised to see Stan Wawrinka win the Australian Open as his first career Grand Slam title.

“In the beginning he was really struggling on faster courts. I played him in Rotterdam and other places. You could sense in his footwork, the way he was returning that he was uncomfortable on them. That’s why it was uncomfortable for me to see that his first Grand Slam he was going to win was the Australian Open. If I would have called any Grand Slam for him to win it was always going to be the French Open, because he moved so effortless on clay. That’s his DNA really.

 

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Jannik Sinner beats Laslo Djere to beat reach the third round at the Miami Open

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Jannik Sinner made a winning start to his Miami Open with a 6-4 6-2 win over world number 58 Laslo Djere after 88 minutes on Court Butch Bucholz  to reach the third round at the Hard Rock Stadium. Sinner won his 17th match this season. 

 

Sinner won six consecutive games from 3-4 down to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead and the final three games from 3-2 to close out the second set. 

Sinner earned his first break point at deuce in the second game of the first set. Djere broke in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but Sinner pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. Sinner closed out the first set 6-4 with his second break in the 10thgame. 

Sinner converted his fourth break point in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead. Djere broke back in the fifth game for 2-3. Sinner earned two consecutive breaks in the sixth and eighth games to close out the second set 6-2. Sinner finished runner-up to Hubert Hurkacz in the Miami final in 2021 and reached the quarter final in last year’s edition

Sinner converted 5 of his 10 break points to improve his seasonal record against top 50 opponents to 13-0. 

Sinner and Djere are 2-2 split in their four head-to-head matches. Sinner won his previous meeting on hard court in Indian Wells 2022. 

Sinner set up a third round match against Grigor Dimitrov, who came back from one set down to beat Jan Lennard Struff 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. 

Struff earned his first break in in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and saved two break points in both the sixth and tenth games to win the first set 6-4. 

The second set went on serve en route to the tie-break. Dimitrov won four consecutive points from 3-5 down to clinch the tie-break 7-5. 

Dimitrov claimed the third set 6-4 with his only break in the fifth game. 

Carlos Alcaraz eased past Facundo Bagnis 6-0 6-2 in just 65 munues to continue his quest for the Sunshine Double after winning the Indian Wells title. 

Alcaraz is bidding to become the youngest player to win the Sunshine Double with his second consecutive title in Miami. 

Alcaraz will face either Maxime Cressy or Dusan Lajovic. 

“I knew that I needed to be focused for my first match. To start a new tournament is never easy. I have to be ready to get used to these new conditions, but I was really focused on the match from the beginning, and I am happy with the way that I played. I try to improve every day”, said Alcaraz. 

Andrey Rublev beat JJ Wolf 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to reach the third round. Rublev dropped his serve in the first game, but he broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. 

Rublev earned an immediate mini-break to open up a 2-0 lead. Wolf pulled one break back to draw level to 2-2. Rublev won four consecutive points to build up a 6-2. Wolf saved the first set point, but Rublev closed out the tie-break with his fourth mini-break. 

Rublev saved all five break points he faced in the second set and earned his decisive break in the seventh game to clinch the second set 6-4 improving his win -loss record to 12-7 this season. 

Rublev set up a third round match against either Miomir Kecmanovic or Ugo Humbert. 

Rublev has won 12 ATP titles, including five ATP 500 trophies, but he is still chasing his first Masters 1000 title. 

“It’s a great feeling, because I did not know what to expect and it was my first match here. I did not much time to adapt. I know he is dangerous, that he can play really well and really aggressive. As soon as we started to play I was losing, so it was not easy. At the end I was happy that I able to keep calm inside, and I was just waiting for my moment in the first set. As soon as I had the moment I was able to make it, and then I started to play a play better and I started to feel more confident”, said Rublev. 

Taylor Fritz eased past Emilio Nava 6-4 6-1. Fritz reeled off six consecutive points from 4-4 in the first set to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead. Nava had beaten former Miami champion John Isner in the opening round to clinch his second ATP Tour win.

Nava earned an early break in the opening game. Fritz pulled back on serve in the second game. Fritz sealed the first set 6-4 with his second break in the 10th game. The US player broke twice in the second and fourth games to close out the second set 6-1. 

“Nava was basically going either clean winner or miss. It didn’t matter what shot I hit, so I felt like I just had to put as many balls in the court as possible and just hope that later on in the set, applying pressure at 5-4 up or if it were to go to 6-5, that he would not be able to just keep hitting winners”, said Fritz. 

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Coco Gauff reaches the third round at the Miami Open for the second consecutive year at the Miami Open

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Number 6 seed Coco Gauff eased past Canada’s Rebecca Marino 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 12 minutes on Stadium Court to reach the third round for the second consecutive year at the Miami Open. 

 

Gauff converted five of her nine break points and came back from a break down in the second set to clinch her second win in as many meetings with Marino. Gauff had already beaten Marino en route to reaching her first Grand Slam singles final at Roland Garros last year. 

Gauff earned an early break in the first set, but Marino pulled back on serve at 4-3 with back-to-back forehand winners. The US teenager fired her sixth ace before breaking Marino for the second time to seal the first set 6-4. 

Gauff came back from a break down at both 2-1 and 3-2 and forced an error with a service return to take a 5-3 lead. 

Marino earned a break point in the next game, but Gauff hit three consecutive serves to close out the second set 6-3. 

Gauf set up a third round match against Anastasia Potapova. Gauff beat Potapova in three sets at the 2019 US Open. 

“Today it was an up-and-down match, honestly. I did well in the returning part, considering Marino is a big server. I am happy with how I played. She is not an easy opponent. She makes a lot of big shots and doesn’t really give you a lot of rhythm. You just have to hang in there”, said Gauff. 

Number 23 seed Zheng Qinwen came back from one set down to beat Irina-Camelia Zheng Quiwen 2-6 6-1 6-1. The Chnese 20-year-old player, who was forced to withdraw from Dubai and Indian Wells due to an abdominal injury, will take on Liudmila Samsonova, who cruised past Viktorija Golubic 6-1 6-1. 

“At the beginning I was having to struggle a bit on court. It was tough to win a point. I was really happy to be on court, but in the beginning it looked like I was not so into the match. I did not find the match rhythm. At the start of the second set I felt a bit better, and I did pretty good at the third set. I was going really fast on court, especially hitting the ball really hard. In the second set I tried to slow down, keep the rally more instead of hitting really, trying to accelerate where I can but staying with the opponent. As my first match back, it’s not a bad start, but I hope I can play a bit better”, said Zheng Quinwen. 

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Elena Rybakina beats Anna Kalinskaya to keep her hopes to win the Sunshine Double alive

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Elena Rybakina battled past Anna Kalinskaya 7-5 4-6 6-3 to reach the third round at the Miami Open keeping her hopes to win the Sunshine Double alive.

 

Kalinskaya earned an immediate break in the first game of the opening set. Rybakina broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. The reigning Wimbledon and Indian Wells champion broke for the second time in the 12th game to seal the first set 7-5. 

Rybakina broke in the fourth game of the second set to build up a 7-5 4-1 lead. Kalinskaya broke back in the seventh game to draw level to 4-4 after a shaky service game from Rybakina. Kalinskaya broke serve in the ninth game at deuce and served out the second set 6-4 to take Rybakina to her fifth deciding set of the season. 

Rybakina broke Kalinskaya in the sixth game of the third set to take a 4-2 lead. Kalinskaya pulled back on serve in the seventh game for 3-4. Rybakina earned her second break in the eighth game and closed out the win just before midnight after 2 hours and 15 minutes. 

Rybakina has extended her winning streak to nine consecutive matches. It’s the longest winning streak in her career at WTA level so far. The Kazakh had previously achieved seven-match winning streaks twice. She achieved this feat, when she won seven consecutive matches en route to clinching her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last year.  

In this year’s edition of Indian Wells she beat Sofia Kenin, Paula Badosa, Varvara Gracheva and Karolina Muchova to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal. She then moved past world number 1 Iga Swiatek in straight sets for the second time in 2023. Rybakina had already beaten Swiatek in the fourth round at the Australian Open. 

Rybakina will renew her rivalry with Paula Badosa, who beat Laura Siegemund 7-6 (4-6) 6-2 after 2 hours and 51 minutes. 

“I am happy that I managed to win. I had chances in the second set to close it out but I was a little bit on energy and she did a couple of good returns, one double fault from me, so it did not go my way in the second set, but I am happy that in the third set I found my way and won. I only had two days and today was a long day. We are now finishing now really late. Courts are different, balls are different, so it’s not easy at all, but hopefully these three sets will help me in the next round”, said Rybakina. 

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