Federer Takes It To The Wire
The brilliance of Roger Federer has seen the Switzerland v France
quarterfinal in Lausanne go to a live fifth rubber, just as the quarterfinal
between these two nations in Neuchatel did three years ago.
Federer, who shoulders so much of the burden of Swiss hopes, was outstanding
against Arnaud Clement, France's stand-in No. 1 (in the absence of Sebastien
Grosjean), beating him 62 75 64 to send most of the 7000 Swiss fans in the
Centre Intercommunal de Malley into raptures.
It means the destination of the tie rests with two fragile players who are
struggling to find the form of their best days: France's Nicolas Escude who
beat George Bastl 86 in the fifth set to see France through three years ago,
and Michel Kratochvil, whose ranking has slipped from his best of 35 to a
current 197.
Whatever happens this weekend, those watching can say they saw Roger Federer
at his best. Despite admitting to a little stiffness and feeling tired after
his seven hours 13 minutes on court this weekend, he was outstanding in the
first set, deliberately keeping the points short with a mixture of crunching
groundstrokes and delicate slices that brought Clement out of his comfort
zone on the baseline to the net.
Federer should have won the first set more quickly than he did. He broke in
the first and third games, and after 23 minutes had two set points at 5-1.
But Clement was starting to get into it, and it took the Swiss five set
points and 31 minutes to take it 6-2.
Clement likes to change his shirt every set, and he played the second in
Swiss colours of bright red. And that proved his best set, as Federer
abandoned some of his mixing and got into some baseline slugging. At 5-4,
Clement was in a strong position to level the match, but Federer held for
5-5, the Frenchman then played a horrible game, gifting his serve to Federer
to love on four errors, and a netted forehand from Clement gave Switzerland
the second set.
The break the World No. 1 gained in the opening game of the third set came
from a return to his mixing-it-up tactics. He sliced a couple of returns
short, following them into the net, and left Clement in unaccustomed
territory. Had Federer converted a break point he had at 4-2 the match
would have been a procession, but Clement won a superb point to save it,
and give himself a chance. Yet he made no impression on Federer's last two
service games, the Swiss sealing victory in two hours 14 minutes.
"It was one of my best Davis Cup matches," he said. "Obviously I hope we'll
win, but whatever happens, I feel very satisfied about this weekend, I'm
very proud to have put in a good performance in Switzerland as No. 1. There
was a lot of pressure on my shoulders, I'm tired now, I've done my best, and
hopefully it will be enough."
Clement said: "He played the important points very well. At times he played
fantastic tennis, but he wasn't unbeatable. I didn't play a perfect match. I
didn't play badly, in fact I played a good match, but against the world No. 1
with the confidence he has, it wasn't enough to beat him."
Federer said he hadn't given Kratochvil any tips for playing Escude. "I gave
him some tips about playing Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinal last year," he
said, "but I think Micha had too much going round in his head, so I'll just
leave him to do what he can."
http://www.daviscup.com/news/matchreport.asp?id=12886
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