Federer's Triumphant Homecoming

[Gasquet (Richie)]

Federer's Triumphant Homecoming

Roger Federer celebrated his first match on Swiss soil since becoming
world No 1 with a straight sets victory over Nicolas Escude to put
Switzerland one up in their quarterfinal against France.

For a set and half the 22-year-old from Basel offered his devoted fans
a masterclass in power, finesse and invention, but the 62 64 64 scoreline
by which he ultimately won testifies to the way Escude fought himself back
into the match. It was the opposite of many of Federer's recent Davis Cup by
BNP Paribas performances, when he has come through a close first set and then
run away with the match.

But that may have had something to do with his reception in the packed
8000-seater Centre Intercommunal de Malley. As he walked on court he was
given a standing ovation, as he warmed up it was to chants of "Roger Roger"
and the ring of cow bells, and with most of the home fans wearing their
national colour, the arena was a massive swathe of red, interrupted only
by around 300 vociferous French fans clad in a highly contrasting blue.

"I wasn't sure what to expect," said Federer. "It was very nice, very loud,
a little bit of a surprise, but the people were keen to see me in Switzerland
as the No 1 player, and it was a hell of an atmosphere. It almost distracted
me a little from my tennis, I almost got goosebumps, it was quite emotional
at the beginning. I was very touched."

In that eulogistic atmosphere, an emotional man like Federer might have
found the warmth of his reception distracted from his tennis. Yet despite
Escude holding his opening service game to love, Federer started like an
express train. Escude's second serve is very vulnerable these days, but
his first was being attacked without mercy, and such was the home player's
dominance that Escude was forced to go for lots of risks, many of which
failed.

Federer won the first set in 28 minutes without dropping a single point
in his four service games, and when he broke Escude in the opening game
of the second it was becoming an embarrassment for the Frenchman. But
Escude has made a name for himself by coming back from bad starts, and
after finally winning a point on the Federer serve he began to edge his
way back into the match as Federer's impressive level began to drop off.
Escude's first break point came in the 10th game of the second set, but a
Federer serve proved unreturnable, and moments later the Swiss sealed the
second set.

That might have opened the flood gates, but Escude hung in. He dropped
his serve in the fifth game, but when Federer came to serve for the match
his serve deserted him, and Escude worked his way to four break points. Yet
this was Federer's day, his triumphant homecoming, and when an Escude
backhand return went into the net on the second match point, both Federer
and the crowd went wild.

Federer said of Escude: "He's a very dangerous player, he keeps coming at
you, if you get down a break he gets confident the match gets much more
difficult. For me it was important to get a good start, and luckily I got
out of it in the third."

Escude said of Federer: "He's playing the confidence that comes from being
the world No 1 and holding two Grand Slam titles. I didn't think he was
playing tennis from another planet, but there are times when he produces
shots that you don't expect."

One important statistic for Federer was that he won in less than two hours,
and as Switzerland's chances depend largely on Federer winning on all three
days, the shortness of the assignment could well have significance for the
overall outcome of the tie.

In the second singles, Ivo Heuberger was playing Arnaud Clement.

http://www.daviscup.com/news/matchreport.asp?id=12864

--
"I am more interested in playing good tennis than in the victory. It is
great to be here. The level of players is so high. It is great for me to
be practicing with such players and be playing against them in tournaments.
I can only benefit from this experience."----------------Richard Gasquet

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