@Sportshorn
It certainly wasn’t pretty but it doesn’t really matter how it looks as long as the job gets done. Roger Federer perhaps a touch rusty with just one hardcourt match under his belt since Wimbledon struggled at times through his match but was able to get past David Ferrer in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to move into the Rogers Cup quarter-finals
Quite the contrast from what was expected before the match had even started. Federer with an outstanding 32-2 record in 2017 along with a 16 match winning streak against the Spaniard dating back to their first meeting in 2003. Ferrer just getting back into form after being injured for part of the year and having won just five sets in the 16 matches he had played against the 19-time Grand Slam champion.
Federer, who turned 36 two days ago, really struggled with his serve early on. He faced seven break points in his first two service games. Ferrer finally converting the final one to go up 3-1. Riding a 13-match winning streak, the Swiss star was able to break back in the ninth game after Ferrer put a backhand into the net. In the following game Ferrer hit a great inside out forehand along with a put-away volley and soon after Federer made one of his 19 unforced errors to give the 35 year old Ferrer the opening set. It was the first set Federer had dropped since June when he lost to Tommy Haas in Stuttgart. It was also just the second time all year he had dropped the opening set in one of his matches.
Ferrer perhaps a bit too relaxed after winning the opening set off Federer, played a sloppy opening service game to start the second set. He double faulted it away. Three games later though Federer started to show frustration. After missing an overhead long he whacked a ball into the crowd. After one of his four double faults the players were back on level playing ground at 2-2.
After breaking back in the following game there was more displeasure from Federer later in the set. He hit a routine forehand into the net and yelling to himself out loud. That seemed to get him going. Two big serves helped him get out of a hole and he won the second set.
Federer was also able to break Ferrer in the opening game of the final set as well. For the first time in the match he began to take over. Other than a bit of trouble in the fourth game, Federer held serve quite easily throughout the set. He broke his opponent again to go up 5-2 and that was that.
It took an hour and 55 minutes but the player everyone in Montreal came to see is moving on. The stat line in the match for the World No 3, 30 winners 47 errors, 23 of those mistakes coming on the backhand side. He broke Ferrer five times but needed 13 chances to do so. His first serve percentage was just 59 percent.
“For me it was more of a struggle,” said Federer. “As you know, you don’t always feel the same, and each opponent is a different problem. He started very well, especially on the return on my second serve. I was not able to serve my first serve where I wanted to, and he hurt me on the second serve. From the baseline, I didn’t have enough rhythm. The court is fast here. Of course, because of the surface, that it’s fast, you can’t just decide to put the ball in because physically David is very strong. You can’t do that. You have to go into the battle. You have to accept you’re going to make mistakes. But you have to keep moving forward.”
Federer will now face the 12th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals. RBA battled through a tough three set match against Gael Monfils earlier on Thursday which lasted nearly three hours.
