Roger Federer Survives Opener in Basel

Federer’s light schedule seemed to have backfired for Federer in the past few tournaments. Roger Federer was made to sweat in his first match at the Basel Open, by  

Filip Krajinovic. Federer has an impeccable record at the Basel Open, having reached the finals thirteen times here. He hasn’t lost a single match in his hometown, since his loss to Juan Martin Del Potro back in 2013.

However, Federer was made to work hard as he was taken to three sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-4 ) by the little known Serbian. “It was a bit more of a hard-fought victory, but they feel good too, especially knowing that I have the day off tomorrow, so it’s no problem having played three sets today,” Federer said. A barrage of unforced errors and inconsistent serving, were just a few things that were noticeable in Federer’s game.

“I didn’t serve very well today”, continued Federer. “I think I was misfiring the corners, I was not hitting the lines enough. Clearly you make your life more difficult, but still I was up 6-2, 3-1, break points, so things could have ended very quickly today, even though I didn’t have the best serve percentage stats. But maybe that’s exactly what caught up to me eventually,” said the Swiss maestro in his post match conference. “It’s just getting used to it. This is where the first rounds can be tricky.”

Federer will have to wait for his opportunity to seek revenge against John Millman, as he was beaten by Jan-Lennard Struff. He will face Roger Federer tommorrow. Struff knows who he is up against and hopes that he can study the match that took place between him and Krajinovic.

“Playing Federer here is tough. I will watch the match (Federer against Krajinovic) with my team and we will try and see what we can do. It won’t be easy for sure,” said Stuff. Federer will look to utilize the extra day, to regroup and start afresh in his bid for his 99th title. Federer says he has a feeling he could reach 100 titles (Read the article here: Roger Federer: ‘I Would Love to Get to 100 Titles’). Jimmy Connors holds the record for the most number of titles held by any male player in the singles division, with 109 titles.