3 talking points from Roger Federer's win over Marin Cilic as heated exchange between Federer & chair umpire takes center-stage
Roger Federer survived his first big test at the Roland Garros 2021 as he defeated old foe Marin Cilic in four tense sets. The Swiss will next face Dominik Koepfer in the third round.
The final scoreline on Thursday read 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in Federer's favor, and the match took two hours and 35 minutes to complete. There was also an unusually heated exchange between Federer and the chair umpire Emmanuel Joseph midway through the second set, due to a time violation slapped on the Swiss.
On that note, here's a look at three key takeaways from the 39-year-old's straight-sets win:
#1 Roger Federer gets into a war of words with chair umpire
Roger Federer won the first set comfortably, but soon went down 3-1 in the second. At that stage, with Marin Cilic serving at deuce, chair umpire Emmanuel Joseph gave the Swiss a time violation for taking too long between points.
Federer, who is generally very quick between points, got irked by the umpire's decision and demanded an explanation. The 20-time Major champion was then told he was wasting time by taking too long to walk to his towel, which was kept at the other end of the court.
Roger Federer was accused of doing that deliberately, at which point he highlighted that Marin Cilic had also expended a generous amount of time between points in the first set. Much to everyone's surprise and amusement, Federer even involved Cilic in the argument, and bluntly asked the Croat if he was being too slow.
Meanwhile, the crowd got behind their favorite player and vociferously chanted his name. After a very lengthy and heated argument, Roger Federer went back to his returning mark. But the Swiss was not done with the umpire yet, and he had a second round of verbal jousting with him after Cilic served out the game.
Below is a part of Roger Federer's argument that has been translated from French.
#2 Roger Federer produced a serving masterclass
Roger Federer's win over Marin Cilic was yet another instance of the Swiss legend taking control of a match with his magnificent serve.
Federer struck 16 aces and won 75% of his first-serve points in the match, while his second serve yielded a success rate of 57%. The Swiss was broken by Cilic three times in the match, but his serve produced the goods when it mattered the most.
Roger Federer struck seven aces in the third set and won a whopping 87% of the points played on his first serve. Two of those seven aces came in the tiebreak itself.
Federer also won 82% of his first serves in the fourth set, where he didn't face a single break point.
#3 Roger Federer's backhand slice can be a lethal weapon even on clay
While Roger Federer's slice is often a defensive shot, the Swiss turned it into an offensive weapon against Marin Cilic.
The Croat, blessed with a powerful inside-out forehand, regularly pushed Federer wide of the tramlines with his pace of shot. But the Swiss didn't let Cilic gain an advantageous court positioning, as he unfurled a string of backhand slices that kept very low and sometimes even ended up being drop shots.
Cilic often struggled to get under the low-bouncing ball, and ended up letting Federer get back into the rally. That made a crucial difference to the result; the Croat could never impose his game fully, and he eventually coughed up just enough unforced errors to give Federer the win.
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