By Chris Oddo | Friday, May 30, 2014
Roger Federer dropped the second set but rallied for a 7-5 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dmitry Tursunov in Paris on Friday.
Photo Source: Matthew Stockman/ Getty
Roger Federer reached the round of 16 at the French Open for a record 12th time with a 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Russian Dmitry Tursunov on Friday, setting up a clash with Latvian Ernests Gulbis.
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Things were tense for the better part of the first two sets, and they got tenser after Federer blew three set points in the 12th game and then squandered a 4-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker against Tursunov, who ripped a forehand winner to level the match at a set apiece after Federer missed on a fourth set point in the latter stages of the breaker.
But Federer took control early in the third set and never gave it back.
“Probably in a nutshell, tough to lose a second, but nice to win the match,” Federer said. “I'm pleased to be through.”
Federer’s victory marks his 12th round of 16 appearance at Roland Garros, which moves him past clay-court legend Guillermo Vilas for most all-time.
“I'm delighted, of course,” Federer said, “but the tournament goes on… I grew up on clay when I was younger, so most of the time when I play on clay courts when I was younger, it was indoor. But I remember that here at Roland Garros I lost to Medvedev, to Rafter when I was a younger player. So at the start of my career, clay was not my favorite surface. I got my best results in indoor courts or hard courts. So people thought at that time that I was only a fast court player. But that's not the case. So I'm very with this record, and I'm enjoying it.”
Federer improved to 5-0 against Tursunov, clocking 56 winners against 39 unforced errors, and saving both break points he faced.
Federer earned 21 break points on the afternoon, 15 of which came in the final two sets, converting on four.
Tursunov, who made quite a match of the first two sets, saw the trainer after winning the second, and he was never the same after that.
“You have to ask him how bad it was for him,” Federer said. “He was still serving 200's at times. So where I felt it the most was that he struggled to return the serve, you know, the reaction, left and right was maybe missing a little bit.”
Tursunov reportedly said that the injury was to his groin area, and affected his running:
Federer will bid for the quarterfinals against a red-hot Ernests Gulbis, who comfortably moved past Radek Stepanek in straight sets on Friday. The Swiss says he is aware of the danger in the Latvian, who has taken the Swiss to a deciding set in each of their three previous matches, and even upset him on clay in Rome in 2010, but relishing the opportunity to bid for a quarterfinal slot nonetheless.
“He's able to hit the backhand above his shoulders, so he's a very good player,” Federer said. “Year after year he moves better on court… He can be very good against the best players. He's confident. He's brimming with confidence, and I'm delighted to play against him.”