Roger Federer survived a scare from Benoit Paire but escaped in a third set tiebreak, reaching the quarterfinals in Halle with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 victory.
Federer had a pair of match points on the Frenchman’s serve at 5-6 in the decider, but was pushed to a decider and faced two Paire match points of his own — one on Paire’s own serve — before converting his first match point on his serve.
The 20-time grand slam champion missed his first serve on Paire’s first match point, at 5-6, then placed a second service just inside the line up the middle and slammed a forehand firmly on the baseline that Paire could not handle properly. The Frenchman then missed his own first serve on match point, allowing Federer to take command of that point.
The legendary Swiss player secured the victory when a Paire return forehand went well long.
Federer had the upper hand throughout the third set, facing no break points and winning all but two points on his first serve. Paire saved all three break points Federer earned, however, forcing Federer into the topsy-turvy decider.
That final set was necessary because of exceptional and surprising play from Paire in the second set. It marked the first time the Frenchman had taken a set off Federer in five career meetings, and came after Paire imploded at the end of the first set.
There, Federer had saved a break point at 3-3 with a pair of exceptional serves, then broke in the subsequent game to serve out the set. Paire threw his racket a handful of times, then continued to swipe at the grass after most points in the next game.
The break had been coming — Paire made only 48 percent of first serves in the opening set, and won barely a quarter of return points.
The second set resembled a completely different match, in which Paire hit five aces to none for Federer, the world No. 1 won a putrid 42 percent of first serve points and the world No. 48 rolled to a 4-0 lead. He did so with a powerful and effective first serve that put Federer on his heels throughout, and exceptional movement that often left Federer helpless.
Federer attempted to claw back, recouping one of his lost breaks, but Paire smoothly saw out his final two service games to set up the dramatic, nearly hour-long decider. Federer’s triumph there keeps his hold on the No. 1 ranking, at least for now — he needs to defend his Halle title to maintain it into Wimbledon — and a quarterfinal match Friday with unseeded Australian Matthew Ebden.
