Roger Federer Defeats Juan Ignacio Chela At Rogers Cup
Posted August 10, 2010 10:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Roger Federer was not as dominant as Canadians fans might remember, but his performance Tuesday was still good enough to earn him a victory and maintain hope for a third Rogers Cup championship.
The 29-year-old Swiss master shook pesky Argentine challenger Juan Ignacio Chela with a 7-6, 6-3 win on centre court. It was Federer’s first competitive match since his quarter-final loss at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Federer, ranked No. 3 on the ATP World Tour, allowed Chela back into the first set, before prevailing in the tiebreaker. He was not as generous in the second set, which lasted 34 minutes.
Federer won the Canadian tournament in 2004, and won it again two years later. He had a 22-6 career record in Canada heading into play Tuesday.
His victory is also a boon for the event promoters, who can still dream of seeing Federer face world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the final. Nadal will play his first match in the singles draw Wednesday.
The tournament lost one big name on Tuesday when it was announced American Andy Roddick had withdrawn with an undisclosed illness. The eighth seed will be replaced by France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the main draw of the US$2.43-million event at York University.
Federer had largely withdrawn from the sport after his early exit from Wimbledon. His unquestioned reign had ended — one that included a four-year run as the No. 1-ranked player on tour — and his body had begun to show signs of wear.
He went on vacation and, aside from a handful of sponsor appearances, disconnected from the public.
“It was nice to get away from it all,” Federer said Monday. “And then, you know, you get very excited again to go back on tour and pack your bags and go on a trip again. So I’m very happy to be back on tour again.”
Tomas Berdych was among the other big-name winners on Tuesday, dispatching Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, on centre court at Rexall Centre.
It was a win for the 24-year-old in a season perhaps better known for its losses. Berdych lost in the semifinal round at the French Open, and followed that with a loss to Nadal in the Wimbledon final a month later. And, after winning his first match on Tuesday, he said he would not trade either experience.
“These are the best moments,” he said. “If you have money, you can buy whatever you want, but these — the memories from the tennis — are really nice. This is the reason why you are doing this sport.”
Berdych, ranked No. 7 on the ATP World Tour, has won five singles titles over his career, but none this year.
“I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said. “I was really sad that it didn’t happen in Wimbledon, because there was really something special, that I’d never been in a Grand Slam final.”
Berdych needed 90 minutes to beat Stakhovsky on Tuesday.
“I know him quite well, what his style of the game is, and it’s always tough,” Berdych said. “He’s playing a lot of slice, chip-and-charge and coming to the net, and sometimes really fast, coming in from the baseline. You don’t know what to expect.”
Canadian tennis players had provided a series of unexpected results at the tournament on Monday night. Peter Polansky became the first Canadian man to beat a top-15 player at his home tournament in seven years when he upset Jurgen Melzer. The doubles tandem of Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic then beat Nadal and Novak Djokovic — the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in the world, respectively.
That magic was not repeated early Tuesday.
The Canadian duo fell 6-2, 6-4, to Melzer and German partner Philipp Petzschner.
Another Canadian, Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, of Ste-Foy, Que., fell 6-4, 6-4 to Yen-Hsun Lu in singles action.
In other matches, Serbia’s Viktor Troicki upset 11th seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6, while Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov earned a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 win over Petzschner. Italy’s Fabio Fognini won 6-2, 6-4 over the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek in the other early game.
Fifth-seeded Robin Soderling survived a scare to emerge with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Ernests Gulbis, while Argentine David Nalbandian scraped to a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over 10th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer.
It was also announced Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup with a left calf injury, and he will be replaced by India’s Somdev Devvarman.
Everyone in the singles draw is aiming at Nadal.
“He really deserves to be No. 1 in the world,” Berdych said of Nadal. “If I would know what to do better, then I would try to do it on court and try to beat him. So far, I think many of us are quite far from him … it’s a chase for him.”
