By Chris Oddo | Thursday June 21, 2018
You have your breezy, straight-set encounters, and you have your nail-biters—the three-set seesaws that are characterized by tension so thick you could pick it up with a pair of chopsticks.
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Roger Federer—he of the 1155 career wins and 170 on grass—has seen his fair share of both, and today he got involved in the latter.
The Swiss struggled with form and the hot serving and unpredictable offerings of France’s Benoit Paire, saving two match points in a third-set tiebreaker to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) in one hour and 15 minutes.
Federer wins his 18th consecutive match on grass, but it was by no means the type of win he wished for on this day. Needing a tenth career title in Halle to maintain his No.1 ranking into Wimbledon, the Swiss lost his way in the second and third sets and by the time he had recovered much of his form he was still forced to deal with the best that the talented Paire had to offer.
Federer, somehow, was able to outplay Paire when it mattered most. On Paire’s first match point, with Federer serving, the Swiss went down the T and followed up a short reply with a forehand that landed just inside the line and elicited a Paire lob that was long.
Two points later, after Federer had granted Paire a second match point by air-mailing a forehand long, Federer laced a second-serve return that landed right at Paire’s footsteps and forced a backhand long.
Federer took control of the next two points and worked over the Frenchman’s forehand (as he tried to do for much of the day), drawing errors on both points and breathing a sigh of relief before smashing a ball into the crowd in celebration.
Alas, a win is a win, and Federer will no doubt take comfort in the fact that he was able to come away with his 18th straight victory on grass and his 61st at Halle. The alternative would have been far worse.
As for Paire, there are positives despite the loss. He took a set for the first time in his career against Federer, and very nearly notched his first ever Top 5 win.
In the end it wasn’t meant to be, but there’s no shame in losing to Federer on his beloved grass. Au contraire, there should only be pride in getting so close, and there’s always next time.
Federer moves on to face Matthew Ebden of Australia in a draw that has seen many high seeds fall. Ebden raced past No.6-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Kohlschreiber joins No.2-seeded Alexander Zverev, No.3-seeded Dominic Thiem and No.7-seeded Kei Nishikori as big names that have failed to reach the quarterfinals. No.8-seeded Richard Gasquet and No.5-seeded Lucas Pouille were also first-round casualties.