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World No 1 Federer keeps cool in Qatar victory
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-06 06:56
DOHA: Roger Federer showed rare glimpses of irritation as he struggled to get
past Fabrice Santoro, perhaps the tour's most unorthodox player, in the second
round of the Qatar Open here on Wednesday.
The world champion with the glass-fibre temperament found the Frenchman's
unique double-handed style and crafty mix of tactics so effective that he never
once broke serve throughout a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5) success.
Federer's skilful power was often still awesome, but he twice missed kills
from inside the service line and once appeared to tell some of the crowd to be
quiet.
There were also moments of unfamiliar frowning amidst the characteristic
skill and grace although afterwards Federer denied that the mental battle had
been a problem.
"The last thing I want to do is get frustrated and I never do," Federer
countered.
"Maybe I used to when I wasn't up to it, but now I have proved myself so much
that there is never a sense of frustration against anyone, no matter how big
their serve, how good they are the net, or how good they are at mixing up their
games, so that is a big advantage to have in my game."
Santoro's entertaining magic came from his ability to stroke the ball with
slice on both wings, and suddenly to appear in unexpected positions to volley.
However, Federer was never in trouble on his own delivery, and took the first
set tie-break with something to spare, by seven points to two.
But he had more difficulty in the second set tie-break, going a mini-break
down and then seeing Santoro save two match points and bring the scoring back
with serve again at 5-6.
Federer then came up with a superb topspin return to the feet, making Santoro
half-volley short, opening up the court for a backhand drive which the
33-year-old former champion could not contain.
Federer next plays Marcos Baghdatis, the first player from Cyprus ever to
make the main tour, who scored a career-best win against Feliciano Lopez, the
eighth-seeded Spaniard winning 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.
Lopez was the fifth of the tournament's eight seeds to go
out.
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