Federer through to Rotterdam quarter finals
Switzerland's Roger Federer has further enhanced his reputation as one of the most promising indoor tennis players after beating France's Sébastien Grosjean in straight sets at the ATP tournament in Rotterdam.
The Swiss number one lost the first set of the match against Grosjean but eventually triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to progress to the tournament’s quarter-finals.
“Sébastien is one of the hottest players on the circuit,” Federer said after his victory, “and it was important for me to defeat him, particularly because I was looking to take my revenge.”
Federer was referring to his tie with Grosjean at the start of the year during the Sydney Open, when the Frenchman easily outplayed Federer in a two-set quarter-final victory.
Thursday’s match with Grosjean will also give Federer further confidence ahead of Switzerland’s Davis Cup tie with France in April. In beating the French number two, Federer has now racked up a total of six victories over French rivals on this year’s ATP tour.
Meanwhile, at the WTA tournament in Dubai, Switzerland’s Martina Hingis had to struggle against Sandrine Testud before finally booking herself a place in the semi-finals.
The world number one seemed uncharacteristically ill at ease against the Frenchwoman, needing almost two hours to play out a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory against an opponent she had beaten easily in two sets just four days ago at the final of Mobil Open in Qatar.
Meanwhile George Bastl was unable to complete a hat-trick of wins for Swiss players on Thursday. The Swiss men’s number four was defeated by Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov, 6-3, 7-6 at the Memphis Tournament.
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