By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, June 9, 2016
Roger Federer fought off Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, winning his comeback match in Stuttgart and tying Ivan Lendlfor second place on the Open Era career match wins list with 1,071.
Photo credit: Mercedes Cup
Prolific barely begins to describe Roger Federer's ongoing achievements.
The third-ranked Swiss transformed his grass-court comeback match in Stuttgart into a major milestone today.
Federer fought off Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory tying Ivan Lendl for second place on the Open Era career match wins list with 1,071 and advancing to the Mercedes Cup quarterfinals.
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It was Federer's first win since he defeated another talented teenager, Alexander Zverev, in Rome last month.
A lower back injury knocked Federer out of Roland Garros last month, snapping his Open Era record of 65 consecutive Grand Slam appearances. Despite a couple of slips on the lawn today, Federer moved fluidly and looked fit.
"Playing against Taylor, who is a next generation player, it was great fun and he's got obviously a wonderful future ahead of himself," Federer told Barbara Schett-Eagle after the match. "I was a bit lucky today to come through. It was good to get the break yesterday and get the first set. So you can always lose the second set and have a chance and that's how it went. I managed to get the break at the very end of the third. I'm very happy to have won my first match in Stuttgart."
It was a challenging comeback for Federer, who scored his first win since May 12th.
Federer denied eight of nine break points and withstood nine aces from the explosive American, who hit 19 aces in his opening-round win.
Rain suspended play yesterday with Federer up a break.
When play resumed today, Federer stamped a love hold for 5-3 before saving a break point to seize a one-set lead.
Bidding for his first career Top 10 win and trying to become the first teenager to defeat Federer since a 19-year-old Andy Murray did it in 2006, the 18-year-old Fritz stayed in step for much of the match.
Taking his cracks from the baseline, Fritz earned a pair of break points in the fourth game, but Federer saved both, holding for 2-all
Fritz fired an ace to gain a 6-5 second-set lead at the one-hour mark.
Empowered, Fritz surged out to a triple set point lead in the next game. Federer fought off all three set points. Fritz drilled an inside-out forehand winner for a fourth set point and when Federer's forehand missed the mark, the world No. 65 collected the 36-minute second set to level.
In the decider, Federer erased a break point with an ace holding for 1-all.
Pressed to deuce from a 40-love lead, Fritz steered a backhand down the line wide to face break point. Fritz's forehand bounded behind the baseline as Federer broke for 5-4.
Slashing a backhand winner crosscourt Federer sealed a one hour, 40-minute victory and said he felt no back pain afterward.
"It's slippery, you have to be careful. It's a great court, but just with the weather it's tough conditions to play right now," Federer said. "I thought I actually served very well in patches. The speed was there, I just have to find the rhythm throughout the match. The back is fine so that's encouraging for tomorrow."
The top-seeded Swiss will face 32-year-old German Florian Mayer for a semifinal spot. Federer has won all six of their prior meetings, including three straight-sets wins on German grass.