Paris Masters: Wobbly Federer beats Fognini on Bércy’s return

Roger Federer has reached the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters. The returnee won in two sets against the Italian Fabio Fognini with 6:4 and 6:3.

Since 2015, fans in Paris-Bércy have no longer been able to see Roger Federer’s arts. Now the 2011 title holder has returned to the Rolex Paris Masters to thunderous applause.

After a walk-through in the first round, the third in the world rankings profited from an injury of Milos Raonic, who could not compete in the duel with the Swiss. Under the eyes of his wife Flavia Pennetta, Fabio Fognini played Federer in the round of 16.

In contrast to his appearance at his home tournament in Basel, Federer served strongly from the start and left Fognini only a few options for the return. And the evening in France’s capital should always be better for “FedEx”: Federer grabbed Fognini’s second service game and took the lead with a break.

Federer then took control of the match and hit another break to score 4-1. The first set went to the Swiss 6:4 despite a 37% service rate from Federer.

The opening of set two was narrower than at the beginning of the game and Fognini held out well against Federer’s aggressive attacks.

At the score of 2:2 Federer found his way back to his game and played with high quality at Fognini’s service game. With volley winners and an aggressive net game, the Swiss player grabbed the break to 3:2 and made the preliminary decision.

It was noticeable, however, that Federer did not feel 100% comfortable in the match against the world rankings-14. The service rate of the 99-times tournament winner remained partially below 40%. Actually too little to insist on this level zz, Federer withdrew himself each time with his solid baseline game repeatedly from the affair.

With another great return game, Federer won the fifth break of the game and 74 minutes as the winner.