Back
Sport
Federer wins thrilling tiebreaker
HOUSTON, NOV. 21. Roger Federer of Switzerland won a record-tying 38-point tiebreaker after rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to defeat Marat Safin of Russia 6-3, 7-6(18) in the semifinals of the ATP Masters Cup here on Saturday.
The tiebreaker lasted 26 minutes and was the third to reach 20-18 since the system started in 1970. Premjit Lal won a tiebreaker by that score against Bjorn Borg in the first round at Wimbledon in 1973, and Goran Ivanisevic did the same against Daniel Nestor in the first round of the 1993 U.S. Open.
``I was happy to win that tiebreaker, it was very special,'' Federer said. ``That was really fun. It was going back and forth and there were only big points. The level of play was very high. It's not like we were giving each other those points. The whole match was great.''
The top-ranked Federer will play for his 11th title of the year on Sunday against Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who won the final 20 points against a deflated Andy Roddick of the United States 6-3, 6-2.
Awesome record
Federer extended his record against top-10 opponents to 22-0 dating to last year's Masters Cup, but it wasn't easy.
After rallying to force the tiebreaker, Federer fought off six set points and wasted seven match points. But the Swiss star finally ended it on his eighth match point, when 2000 U.S. Open champion Safin sent a forehand long. Safin's double-fault set up that last point.
``I'm already happy with the tournament,'' Federer said. ``I came in not sure of how it would be because of the injury. I hadn't played in a while, but I've won all my round-robin games and if I could win back-to-back championships, that would be fantastic.''
Safin broke Federer in the second game of the second set and moved on to a 4-1 lead.
Federer held in the sixth game after fighting off two break points and then broke Safin in the seventh game on Safin's forehand error.
``I was probably going for too much because I knew I have Roger Federer on the other side, so I had to do something extra,'' Safin said.
``I didn't really make any mistakes in the tiebreaker. I was, unfortunately, a little bit nervous. I had to wait more for a good opportunity.
``Otherwise, I don't regret anything from the tiebreaker, even though I had six break points.''
Volley of errors
Hewitt trailed 2-1 in the second set and was serving when he took complete control, holding at love and not dropping another point the rest of the way.
Roddick went into the match determined to volley more than he usually does — but that didn't quite work out.
Hewitt, like Roddick a former year-end No. 1 and U.S. Open champion, improved to 4-1 against the American.
``I just stoned them,'' Roddick said of his volley efforts. ``I've been hitting them great all week. But today, that was about as bad as I've volleyed.''
Hewitt broke Roddick in the sixth game of the first set with a lob winner.
After Roddick escaped two break points in the fourth game of the first set, Hewitt held in the fifth game with a forehand down the line after returning two good forehands by Roddick. ``Come on!'' shouted Hewitt and raised a clenched fist. Hewitt, with four titles and six finals appearances this year, improved his Masters Cup record to 13-4.
Doubles (final): Bob Bryan-Mike Bryan bt Wayne Black-Kevin Ullyett 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. — AP
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu