Federer ends Gstaad jinx

Victory at last for Federer in Gstaad Keystone

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer has finally made it into the second round of the Gstaad tournament after five years of trying.

The young Swiss number one saw off Morocco’s Hicham Arazi in Tuesday’s first round action to end a losing run in Gstaad going all the way back to Federer’s first ever ATP Tour match in 1998.

As well as employing his obvious talent, Federer showed strong concentration and patience to see off Arazi in straight sets (6-4, 6-3).

A single break of serve in the opening set was enough to put Federer in front. A rain interruption then followed with the score at 3-3 in the second set, but Federer returned to the court in fighting mood – breaking Arazi in the very next game before wrapping up the overall victory.

“Last year people were already pointing out that I had never won here,” a relieved Federer told swissinfo afterwards. “I thought I would do it last year after doing so well at Wimbledon but I was suffering from a groin strain and had no chance against (first round opponent Ivan) Ljubicic.

“I’m making up for it now, though – this is a very special moment for me.”

Sweet revenge

Federer also admitted that Tuesday’s win had been all the more sweet for coming against Arazi – the man who dumped Federer out in the first round of this year’s French Open.

“When I first saw the draw here and realised that I was up against the man who beat me in straight sets in Paris, I wasn’t very happy,” Federer told swissinfo. “But I knew my preparations were good for this match, and now I’m just happy to have played a patient game and to have won my first game in Gstaad.”

With that five-year jinx now broken, Federer’s title chances certainly can’t be discounted. Previously considered weak on clay, the young Swiss celebrated his biggest win to date on the slow surface earlier this season when he clinched the Masters Series title in Hamburg.

His prospects of making the quarter-finals at least seem strong with his second round opposition now coming from Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek. The world number 110 booked a surprise place in the second round on Tuesday with a straight sets win over Spain’s Francisco Clavet (ATP 78).

Top seed toppled

The biggest surprise of the day though was the one sprung by French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu who put an early end to Albert Costa’s title bid.

The reigning French Open champion and two-time Swiss Open winner was the top seed in Gstaad this year. But Mathieu showed little respect for the sport’s current world order, knocking Costa out of the first round in straight sets (6-4, 6-3).

While praising his opponent’s performance, Costa had no shortage of explanations for his surprise defeat.

The Spanish star admitted that he may not have been in the best of form following the last few weeks which included not only his shock French Open win but also his own wedding five days later and a week’s holiday after that.

Costa added that it was sometimes difficult to adapt to the high altitude in Gstaad, a problem which his opponent had already overcome during his three previous qualifying round matches.

A further surprise result in Federer’s half of the draw saw Ecuadorian sixth seed Nicolas Escude crash out in three sets (5-7, 6-1, 5-7) to Hungary’s Attila Savolt.

Escude, who could have been Federer’s quarter-final opponent, became the third seed to fall in the first round, following Costa and Spanish fifth seed Juan Ignacio Chela.

by Mark Ledsom, Gstaad