Federer & Zverev and Kvitova & Barty – Who’ll Win?
Roger Federer has reached his eleventh Halle final after beating Karen Khachanov in a tough 6-4, 7-6(5) match, only to meet with another formidable opponent, Alexander Zverev, currently ranked world number 12. This will be Federer’s 140th final. More importantly Federer will try to win his 9th Halle title while Zverev will leave no stone unturned in scoring another win and claiming a 2-1 H2H advantage over Roger.
Federer seemed to struggle a bit against Khachanov. Federer served for the match, only to be broken. Luckily for Roger, Khachanov’s inexperience would prevent him from converting two of his set points, which would allow Roger to take the second set to a tiebreak and win the match. Federer still seems a little shaky in match situations, but definitely seems to be coming into form. Before his match with Khachanov Federer said “Everything has been geared toward that (Wimbledon) for the past 12 months and I’m happy with how I feel at the moment.”
“It was all a little uncertain because I don’t know him that well. It’s warm, it’s hot, I’m a little bit tired. It was a difficult match.”
Federer was prone to errors throughout the match, and even gave his opponent 6 break points, but Roger isn’t a champion for nothing and ended up saving four of them. Roger managed to capitalize on 3 of his 5 break points.
Alexander has just come from a hard fought win against Richard Gasquet in three sets, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The German hit 11 aces and converted four of the eight break point opportunities he had. In under two hours he was able to bring the match to a close.
This will be a tough match for Roger, and he will need to cut down on his unforced errors if he wants to win the match convincingly. He cannot afford to give Zverev any opportunities to come into the match and gain his rhythm, and if Zverev does manage to find his footing, Roger will have to display some of his best tennis.
Either way, this match is bound be a treat with ample display of exemplary variation, sizzling power, booming and well placed serves, and all court tennis. In the immortal words of the much feared Tai Lung “their meeting will be legendary.”
On the women’s side, Kvitova has made a feel good comeback, reaching the finals of the Birmingham Open and proven beyond doubts that grass comes quite naturally to her. This is her first grass court final since Wimbledon 2014, and her display in Birmingham so far seems to point towards another Wimbledon title in 2017.
In her semifinal match against Lucie Safarova, Kvitova was hitting clean, powerful shots, which put Safarova in troublesome positions. Kvitova’s forehand was espeically effective. Safarova however, was suffering from a right thigh strain and retired from the match at 6-1, 1-0 down.
In the final Kvitova will play Ashleigh Barty, who defeated Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. These two have played only once before, a meeting won by Kvitova on Roland Garros clay in 2012. No matter what the results are in the final match Kvitova is already extremely happy with her performance, which she should be, considering this is only her second tournament since her comeback.
“Yes, I could not have imagined a better comeback,” said a very satisfied Kvitova.
Kvitova’s hand also seems to have fully recovered after the stabbing incident, and she had good things to say about that as well. “The hand is good, which is the best news I could have. I am not feeling any pain.”
Although Kvitova is playing well and seems to be in a good mental place, she has remained reluctant to agree or say anything about being a strong contender for the Wimbledon title. There is, however, no doubt that all eyes will be on her as Wimbledon begins.