Gerry Weber Open: Federer outlasts Haas to reach finals
Roger Federer avenged his loss to Tommy Haas with a spirited come from behind victory over the German at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle to reach the finals of the event for the eighth time in his stellar career. Federer lost the first set quickly, but set about repairing the damage immediately to work his way back to an emphatic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in an hour and 39 minutes.
Haas was down a break point in the very first game, but a big serve helped him avert any damage at the start of the match. Instead it was Federer who surrendered the first break of the match. The Swiss fell to 15-40 in the sixth game and even though he clawed his way back to deuce, Haas made him pay when he converted at the third time of asking.
The defending champion served for the set at 5-3 and an eager Federer stepped up his game to earn two break points. But the resourceful Haas whipped a backhand cross court winner to save the first and another forehand error from Federer nullified the next. Haas then got his serve to talk, sending down a couple of service winners to put the set to bed in 31 minutes.
Stung by the reversal in the first set, Federer made amends early in the second set. A couple of aces delivered a stern message to his opponent in the first game, before Federer reeled away a hat-trick of winners to take a much needed break. Federer held an emphatic third game to take a 3-0 cushion to bring himself right back into the match.
A slice volley gave Federer a 30-0 lead in the ninth game before he earned his first set point with a cross court forehand winner on the next point. The Swiss maestro took the set when Haas sent a return long and the match was dead even at one set a piece.
Federer was under considerable pressure at deuce in the second game of the final set. An ace down the middle that caught just a little bit of the corner and another service winner helped the Swiss to keep play on serve at 1-1.
Haas put too much weight behind a volley and then dumped a backhand in the net to fall behind 0-30 in the third game. Inexplicably, Haas made two straight double faults to concede the break to a relieved Federer, who finally had his nose ahead in the match.
Haas showed he was far from done, holding at love to stay within touch at 3-4. In the next game, Haas could only send a forehand return wide as Federer held serve for a 5-3 lead. Haas survived the next game to ensure that Federer needed to serve his way into the finals.
The 15th ace of the match for Federer helped him to three match points at 40-0. Haas saved the first when Federer courted the net with a sliced backhand. The match ended when Haas only managed to dump a forehand in the net on the next point with Federer bearing down intently at the net.
Federer won 80% of the points on his first serve and saved two of the three break point chances on his racket to outplay his 35 year old opponent, especially through the later part of the match. The German had as many as nine double faults, some of them at a crucial juncture in the final set to literally shoot himself in the foot. The victory improved Federer to 11-3 over his good friend and opponent.
The win helped Federer avenge his loss to the German in the finals of this event last year and reach his 8th career final at Halle. Federer is a five time champion and standing in the way of a sixth title will be the winner of the match between Richard Gasquet and Philipp Kohlschreiber.