By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, June 16, 2016
Roger Federer won six of the last seven games streaking past Malek Jaziri, 6-3, 7-5, into the Halle quarterfinals for the 14th time.
Photo credit: Gerry Weber Open
Armed with skulls on his shirt and socks and a bone-jarring forehand, Malek Jaziri seemed to have Roger Federer in a second-set headlock.
Grappling with a 1-4 second-set deficit, a disruptive opponent and a dubious return, Federer pounced when Jaziri flinched.
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Federer tore through six of the last seven games pinning down his 14th trip to the Halle quarterfinals with a 6-3, 7-5, conquest.
It was Federer's 14th consecutive Halle victory as he plays for a record-extending ninth Halle title.
Continuing his quest for his first title of 2016, Federer will face David Goffin for a spot in the semifinals. Goffin, who had a poster of Federer on his bedroom wall while growing up, held a 4-6, 7-5, 2-0 lead over Sergiy Stakhovsky when the qualifier retired with a back injury.
Serving at 5-4, Stakhovsky was a couple of points from the quarterfinals, but a pair of double faults and untimely tumble to the turf resulted in the break and back injury. Stakhovsky never really recovered.
"Sergiy served so strong. It was very hard to return," Goffin said. "It’s difficult to play from the baseline on a court like this. I played well at 4-5 though and he slipped a little. He had some issues with his back after that and therefore sadly could not carry on playing."
Federer was free-flowing in the front court in the opening set, but struggled to control his returns in the second.
The 64th-ranked Jaziri isn't a massive server, but dropped only four points on first serve in the match as Federer's chipped returns sometimes landed short in the court.
The top-seeded Swiss saved the first break point of the match in the third game, whipping an ace wide to hold.
Exploiting the backhand chip return Federer danced in for a backhand drop volley sealing a love hold for 4-3.
Floating forward behind a tricky lob, Federer nudged a backhand half volley winner in the eighth game. On his second break point, Federer, who had been teasing Jaziri with the slice backhand, slashed a one-hander down the line drawing the error for 5-3.
The eight-time champion thumped a smash closing the 28-minute opener with command, winning five of seven trips to net.
Jaziri's forehand is his kill shot. His backhand was tested throughout the opening set. He blistered a one-handed backhand pass holding to start the second set in his most forceful strike from that wing.
Empowered, Jaziri fought off a casual Federer smash from inside the service line and rifled another backhand pass for triple break point. Correctly reading the wide serve, Jaziri blasted a two-handed backhand return winner down the line ending an eruptive break with a celebratory shout for 2-0.
Jaziri played dynamic tennis building a 4-2 lead.
A double-fault and wrong decision cost him the break. Jaziri's third double fault put him in a break-point bind. On the ensuing 12-shot rally, he stopped play, believing a Federer forehand sailed long. Replay showed the ball caught the baseline as Federer broke back.
As the score line tightened, so did the Tunisian. The forehand that had been so sharp failed him. Jaziri slapped a forehand into the middle of the net then sailed a forehand long as Federer broke for 6-5.
Federer spoke of finding freedom on court following his first-round win; if he can produce the precision from his return he believes he's a danger to continue his reign.
"The bar is naturally lower overall just because I need to first feel like I’m free with everything, my mind, my body, my game, whatever," Federer said. "So, there’s so many things to work through it. I’m getting there. I’m happy that I’m getting more and more info every match I play. Now, I think it was clearly really good for me that I played Stuttgart last week. Otherwise, I would have come here and just say anything is a good result.
"Now, I feel after the first round, after having played last week, actually maybe something is really possible here. I don’t want to get too carried away but I feel like if I serve the way I did today and I’m able to step it up just a little bit on the return from the baseline, all of a sudden I’m dangerous for anybody, you know, you would think so. So, we’ll see how it goes."
Though it wasn't a spotless performance and he struggled to tame his returns, Federer served with authority when it mattered most. He holds a 4-0 record against the 11th-ranked Goffin, including a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory at the Australian Open earlier this season.
Playing for the 10th straight day, Stuttgart runner-up Philipp Kohlschreiber edged Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-5. It was the eighth-seeded Kohlschreiber's 385th career victory, equaling former Wimbledon winner Michael Stich's mark for third place among German men.