Roger Federer turned in a second consecutive dream performance yesterday to give his home fans more satisfaction as he rolled Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors
Roger Federer turned in a second consecutive dream performance yesterday to give his home fans more satisfaction as he rolled Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors.
The one-hour effort surprised even the in-form top seed.
"That's two perfect matches in a row," said the Swiss, equally ruthless in the first round on Monday. "How much better can it get?
"I played well, served well and had hardly any errors. This is about as good as it gets. If I can keep it like this for the whole event, that would be amazing."
Federer is now into the quarter-finals as he bids to seize back the title he lost to Novak Djokovic a year ago, following a three-year trophy run at the St Jakobshalle, where he got his start in the sport as a teenage ballboy.
But the World No 2 does not want to risk over-confidence either.
"I don't want to get used to this, that could be a danger," he said.
"Beating Janko (who took him to five sets in their last match at the 2008 Australian Open) is a good win. He's on a Davis Cup finals team after all."
Federer got the job done in exactly one hour, leaving him plenty of time to cross the road and find his VIP seat at the Champions League fixture between his club Basel and visiting Italian side Roma.
Fourth seed Andy Roddick was planning on dining in at his central city hotel after passing up on the chance to attend the football.
Roddick returns
Roddick marked his return to tennis after injuring his knee a fortnight ago in Shanghai with a 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) defeat of fellow American Sam Querrey to reach the second round. The American, who last played here in a 2003 semi-final, resumed the hunt for a place in the eight-man ATP season final, where three spots remain open.
Roddick hammered his trademark aces with abandon, totting up 16 in just over 90 minutes of battle. "After being sick (with glandular fever) in the summer and then the Shanghai injury, it's good to play a solid match," said Roddick. In other first-round matches, veteran Czech Radek Stepanek beat Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
