Roger Federer is thru to the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals after defeating Spaniard David Ferrer in straight sets Friday night, 6-4 6-4. The Swiss maestro lead throughout the match with his serve, firing 7 aces while serving at 78% on first serves. He won 86% of points on his first serve and 90% of points on his second serve. Ferrer, unable to apply pressure on Federer’s service games, felt the Swiss maestro’s aggression and was broken early in the first set. Federer went on to serve out the first set, and both players held serve up to 4 all in the second set, where the Spaniard was again broken, this time after a long service game.
The Swiss star then easily held his serve once more, serving back to back aces to close out the straight sets victory. Federer is now 26-3 in 2012 and 43-3 since the 2011 US Open. With much frenzy over the blue clay in Madrid this year, players such as Rafael Nadal have been loudly vocal about the surface, so much as to threatening not to play in the tournament in 2013. Novak Djokovic has also been vocal to complain about the surface. The Serbian said after his straight sets loss to Tipsarevic, “I want to forget this week as soon as possible and move on to the real clay courts.”
The Swiss maestro chose to reserve opinion for after playing his first match. In his post match interview with Sky Sports today, when asked about the blue clay and talk over the surface, Federer said “when i came on tour in 98 I had to adapt to different speeds every week. These days players have same speed everywhere you go.”
Federer further answered questions on the surface in general of the Madrid tournament since becoming a clay court masters event in 2009.
“If you want to be a good claycourt player, you must be able to play everywhere…Madrid has taken a gamble with blue clay. It’s always a little different here because of the altitude and we must sit down with the other players to discuss it.”
“It is slippy, there’s no doubt about that but that has been the case here for a few years. They haven’t yet found the perfect balance. Our job each day is to adapt to the conditions that we face.”
Highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB7lXHOCpsg
Post-match (on court) interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3mz2yMR07Q
Federer will take on Janko Tipsarevic in the semifinals on Saturday, May 12 (not before 7pm local time in Madrid). Tipsarevic upset defending champion Novak Djokovic earlier, 7-6 (2) 6-3.
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