Swiss crash out of Rosmalen tournament

Federers serve failed to fire against Schalken Keystone

Swiss tennis players Roger Federer and Yves Allegro have both failed to make it into the Rosmalen semi-finals.

The two Swiss were beaten respectively by Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, the sixth seed, and Tommy Robredo of Spain, the fourth seed.

Allegro’s 6-4, 6-2 loss to Robredo, a player who qualified for last year’s semi-finals of the tournament came as no surprise, but Federer’s early exit was unexpected.

World number nine is considered to be among the favourites for the upcoming Wimbledon tournament. The Swiss number one’s game, however, showed some serious flaws in his 6-3, 5-7, 3-6 defeat, just three days before the beginning of the grand slam event.

Federer, in his fifth quarter-final on Rosmalen’s grass courts, lost his grip on the match when he could have won it. After holding his serve at 5-5 in the second set, Federer then went on to lose six straight games.

At 0-4 in the third set, Federer came to his senses and broke back twice. But trailing 3-4, the Swiss lost his service that was to prove decisive.

Federer’s defeat is not all bad news for the Swiss player. It will give him time to fine tune his game in London before his first-round match against Croatia’s Mario Ancic.

There was also disappointment for Switzerland’s Michel Kratochvil, who suffered a 6-7, 2-6 semi-final defeat against Australia’s Wayne Arthurs at the ATP tournamnet in Nottingham, England.

swissinfo with agencies