Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer beat 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) in a very close match after 1 hour and 33 minutes in the Hopman Cup in Perth securing the spot in the final to the Swiss team.
The match was decided by two-breaks with no breaks of serve. Both players held their service games easily until the tie-break in the first set. Tsitsipas took a 4-1 lead in the tie-break but he made a double fault at 5-5. Federer fired an ace to seal the tie-break after 40 minutes.
Federer was solid on his serve in the second set. There was only a deuce in Federer’s service games at 5-6. Tsitsipas fought off three break points he faced in the 10th and 12th games of the second set to stay unbroken setting up a second tie-break. Federer claimed the tie-break 7-4 to win his third singles match in this year’s edition of the Hopman Cup after beating Cameron Norrie and Frances Tiafoe in straight sets in his first two matches.
Federer has never lost his serve in the opening three matches this week.
Federer’s win gave Switzerland a 1-0 lead, which is enough to secure a spot in Saturday’s final. Switzerland had beaten Great Britain 3-0 and the USA 2-1 in the first two ties. The Swiss team formed by Federer and Belinda Bencic will face either Germany or Australia in the final.
“I enjoy playing against these guys. They bring something different and something I have never seen today. As you can seeI am still breathing heavily and I am not getting any younger. It was good fun and I really enjoyed myself. I thought Stefanos came out and played a great match. So did I. Not many unforced errors and just lots of quality tennis. At the end of the day that is what I see was the difference in the first set, maybe just an ace or a double fault. In the second set I had a few more chances but it could have easily gone three sets”, said Federer.
