Roger Federer continued his solid play after recovering from injury. He only needed 73 minutes to triumph over Jan-Lennard Struff to reach the next round. This is his 145th win on grass. The Swiss veteran has won the Gerry Webber Open eight times.
Break gave Roger the win in the first set
In the first game, it began with Struff's strong serving. As we saw that helped him in other games later on. Everyone, who was watching, noticed nervousness in his attitude. Federer's game was good as well. He did his first double fault. In the second game, the German showed us how his tennis is sometimes dangerous, he slipped during one of the rallies. Fortunately, this never happened in the match after this incident. While the Swiss was serving better and better, the German was trying to win points in long rallies which was not in his favor.
Until three-all, the games were quick and easy. In the seventh game, Struff didn't hit many strong serves like his opening service games. We saw the first deuce in the match and after two break points, the German was broken. In the next game, Federer was even stronger than before. This break gave him the confidence he needed. After the ninth game in which Struff held, Federer was able to close out the opening set 6-4.
One error in the tiebreak damaged remarkable play of Jan-Lennard Struff
Someone in the crowd had health problems, which was a worry as play stopped. The match was interrupted in the state 40-15 for Struff. The match stopped for around five minutes as the fan was taken out of the crowd. After these scenes, server won one point and the game. The third game was one of the best in Struff's execution. Wonderful points and perfect serves caused that as he kept Federer in check. Everybody saw how Struff was changing his play. From stressed to a player who was able to threaten to win every point. Thanks to him Federer was in danger, for sure. His third and fourth serving game was solid.
When Federer had break points, Struff looked worried. But history didn't repeat, as he finally triumphed. Both had fantastic play in the tiebreak. As I mentioned earlier, the young tennis player made a huge mistake, which gave a mini-break to Roger. The first seed didn't waste his chance. Struff was trying to fix the situation. He showed us how to play at the net and even defended first match point. But after the second one, Federer won.
Look at the stats
As mentioned, Federer's serve functioned very well. He served 11 aces, Struff served 5. Both players committed the same number of double faults - two. The Swiss hit 22 winners, two more than Struff.
Struff also hit 26 unforced errors, Federer 17. The eight-time winner of this tournament had four chances to break the rival, he succeeded only once. His younger opponent could not convert
In the next round, Roger Federer will play against Malek Jaziri. They haven't played since 2013. Their first match won the Swiss veteran 5-7 6-0 6-0 at the Dubai Open.