ATP Tour - Federer battles past Stepanek

Eurosport - Thu, 16 Oct 10:28:00 2008

Roger Federer kick-started the final leg of his long 2008 season as he defeated Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3 7-6 to advance into the third round of the Madrid Masters.

TENNIS 2008 Federer - 0

It took a determined effort from the 13-time Grand Slam winner to drain the energy from Stepanek, who insisted on leaping and "sawing wood" in celebration on almost every successful point against the Swiss master.

But Federer calmly had his way in the end after the number 30 saved one match point, sending a second one wide to put Federer through.

"I'm happy to be back on tour, I played Davis Cup indoors and that gave me some matches. but I had two or three weeks off," said Federer, the 2006 Madrid winner and last year's losing finalist.

"The first round is always going to be tough, I'm very happy to win."

Federer will now prepare for a Thursday night encounter with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Meanwhile, Andy Roddick cruised past veteran Spaniard Tommy Robredo in straight sets to take his place in the next round.

Roddick broke early in both the first and second sets before his powerful serving saw him through to a 6-3 6-4 victory.

AFP

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  1. To comment number 19 from wickedwitch020480..

    It is­ not clear to me who Eurosport are favouring.. Enlighten­ me..

    D

    From dion.legge, on Thu 16 Oct 4:33PM

  2. A welcome match for Roger Federer after the break. Like­ many other, I too wish him well to get on to the­ winning streak as in the past. There is no better place­ to do that than Madrid, the home turf of his arch rival­ Rafael Nadal! Good Luck Roger.

    From Emmveeyem, on Thu 16 Oct 1:54PM

  3. Rafael Nadal VS R.Gasquet is a surewin of 1.85% at­ Sports Arbitrage Union

    From arbitrageunion, on Thu 16 Oct 1:16PM

  4. I think it is plain to see who eurosport are favouring­ at the moment

    'federer battles' to a straight­ set win

    'Nadal passes 1st test'

    either stop­ favouring or get new unbiased writers

    From Annamarie G, on Thu 16 Oct 12:16PM

  5. i've had it with the "INVALID COMMENT"­ thing! eurosport people, do something about it!
    tc

    From Helen H, on Thu 16 Oct 11:40AM

  6. All three top players started of slowly, but this is­ The Masters, you cant expect an easy match even in­ second round... I think one of them is going out in the­ next round! Nadal, i would say....

    From duci_king, on Thu 16 Oct 10:53AM

  7. They all want Federer to lose so that they can justify­ their lack of faith in him! It's great to say­ 'I told you so', isn't it? Just like­ kids!!

    From beryll, on Thu 16 Oct 10:17AM

  8. the sign of failing...

    From toriq, on Thu 16 Oct 8:47AM

  9. Are you all sober? The title is fine. Federer has to­ fight hard to gain the second set it could have been­ the same as earlier this year when he lost to Stepanek­ in two tiebreakers on clay just because of 2 or three­ missed points. Federer is beatable when you really step­ up your game as Stepanek did in the second. You need to­ win the first though...

    From risimko, on Thu 16 Oct 8:38AM

  10. All the best, Roger.

    From Emmanuel, on Thu 16 Oct 8:31AM

  11. true speaking this eurosport guys r always the @#$%­ against federer!!they always comments on rogers victory­ as a cheep one..even i remeber whn roger won the match­ in this year us open againsty andreev one of the guy­ named cohen started the column as saying "poor­ roger"!! after the us open i wrote in this setion­ about that bloddy cohen to write something about­ federer !!!but i think he resigned fromn this job or­ ran away!!!hahaha...

    From frnd_strngr, on Thu 16 Oct 8:17AM

  12. dear eurosport,
    if Robredo is veteran, than how do you­ call Björknman or Santoro? Dinosaur?!
    (after watching­ the first mathes of the big stars, Federer is the top­ favorite this week.)

    From Zoltán, on Thu 16 Oct 8:09AM

  13. Federer stil the best!

    From marinnike, on Thu 16 Oct 7:46AM

  14. Janell,in fairness to Eurosport on this occasion, the­ headline for the Nadal article was "Nadal battles­ back to beat Gulbis". I can't find any any­ article headed "Nadal passes first test".­ It's true that a lot of the headlines don't­ really describe what happened in the matches. In­ general tho', I think the articles are pretty­ good.

    Pretty smooth performance by Fed against a tough­ opponent. The tie-break was a cracker. Cheers

    From rhymes450, on Thu 16 Oct 7:33AM

  15. Federer started out strongly, then kinda fell flat as­ Stepanek started to play more aggressively. This is to­ be expected, though, as Federer usually starts­ tournaments slowly. Hope he does well against Tsonga.

    From HT, on Thu 16 Oct 7:16AM

  16. Roger has had his day I think but his successes have­ been well earned.

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 16 Oct 7:10AM

  17. Fed. Legend. Nuff said.

    From The Rule, on Thu 16 Oct 2:59AM

  18. Roger is back and will stay. I hope he wins this time­ just like in 2006. SUERTE ROGER

    From odettevn, on Thu 16 Oct 12:57AM

  19. tennisroolz,Totally agree how they can say this is­ beyond me when it should be said about Nadal AKA­ Flavour of the month!! when he "Had to­ battle" Roger never.. UNless they watched a­ different match. But at the moment they love to trash­ roger and think the sun shines out of Nadal's A**E­ makes me sick..

    From janell.lovell, on Thu 16 Oct 12:32AM

  20. Roger Federer is the real King of Tennis.RF5.Not Rafa.I­ beleive so much in Roger Federer.He will soon meet up­ with Pete's Record to be the greatest player who­ ever handled the Racket.I luv u so much Roger

    From igho_iwinna, on Thu 16 Oct 12:17AM
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