Roger Federer has reached the semi-finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The top favourite clearly prevailed over Guido Pella in two sets.
Classic lawn tennis – that’s what tennis fans associate with Roger Federer in particular. This was also shown by the Swiss at his second appearance at Weissenhof in Stuttgart.
From the very beginning, Federer was aware of his place on the Mercedes Cup circuit. “The place is even better than last year. It reminds me of Wimbledon,” Federer explained before the tournament. Federer plays the expensive green under the shoes of the record champion into the cards. Argentinian Guido Pella also had to admit this in the quarter-finals.
Federer moved forcefully and light-footedly on the court and varied with a lot of self-confidence against the brave Argentinian. Federer did not give a single point up to 3:3 on his own service before the turf specialist took the first break of the match.
With only one point loss on his own serve, the top seeded player took the 6:4 set lead after only 33 minutes.
Statistics in the first set showed that Federer was not playing a ball more than a meter behind the baseline. This aggressiveness paired with playfulness and variation pulled Pella’s tooth early in the second run.
The immediate break for Federer’s 1-0 lead set the course for the semi-finals. Partly the second round reminded of an exhibition match and a lesson in lawn tennis. Slice, attacking ball and a volley at the end – this is how the eight-time Wimbledon winner designed his playing structure.
Pella could not recover from the early loss of serve and Federer remained ice-cold with his own service. After just over an hour of play, FedEx turned his first match point into a 6-4 and 6-4 victory and is among the top four in the tournament.
“It was a wonderful day to play tennis. I feel very comfortable and played good points,” the Swiss player explained in the winning interview. In the semi-final, either Nick Kyrgios or Feliciano Lopez awaits Federer – the “Maestro” has no preferences: “Both play great tennis on grass. Kyrgios in particular has shown what he can do with his blows. “I look forward to the game, no matter who I play.”
Federer can once again become the number one in the world with a place in the Mercedes Cup final, replacing Rafael Nadal at the top.
The single tableau in Stuttgart