Federer Crushes Anderson in Cincinnati
Another impressive win for the Cincy GOAT as he crushed big serving Kevin Anderson 6-1 6-1 to book his spot in the Western and Southern Open Quarter Finals.
Roger was a big favourite heading into the encounter with a 3-0 H2H advantage and he lived up to the billing. Breaking Anderson at will and not facing a single break point on his own serve. The Swiss hit 23 winners to just 8 unforced errors to record his victory in just 55 minutes.
Quick Match Recap
Federer won the toss and elected to serve; finding his mark early with an ace and holding to love. Anderson made 100% of first serves in game 2, but was broken to 30 as Roger moved into a 2-0 lead.
The break was consolidated to love and with Anderson looking tight the double break soon followed. At 0-5 the South African finally got his first game on the board to avoid the bagel but Fed served out the set to take it 6-1.
Game 1 of Set 2 saw Anderson hold a game point but he botched a volley before dropping serve tamely. Again Roger could do no wrong as he held and at 3-1 he came up with some ridiculous ball striking to break for the second time.
4-1 soon became 5-1 and Anderson then slipped to 15-40 on his own serve. He was able to save 3 match points but an aggressive return from Roger saw Anderson dump his forehand into the net. Game, Set, Match Federer 6-1 6-1.
Match Stats
K. Anderson | R. Federer | |
Aces | 6 | 4 |
Double Faults | 2 | 2 |
1st Serve % | 63% | 61% |
1st Serve Points Won | 19/33 (58%) | 19/22 (86%) |
2nd Serve Points Won | 6/19 (32%) | 9/14 (64%) |
Break Points Saved | 5/10 (50%) | 0/0 (0%) |
Service Games Played | 7 | 7 |
1st Return Points Won | 3/22 (14%) | 14/33 (42%) |
2nd Return Points Won | 5/14 (36%) | 13/19 (68%) |
Break Points Won | 0/0 (0%) | 5/10 (50%) |
Return Games Played | 7 | 7 |
Winners | 12 | 23 |
Unforced Errors | 21 | 8 |
Net Points Won | 5/12 | 9/11 |
Total Service Points Won | 25/52 (48%) | 28/36 (78%) |
Total Return Points Won | 8/36 (22%) | 27/52 (52%) |
Total Points Won | 33/88 (38%) | 55/88 (63%) |
Highlights
Thoughts on the Match
Definitely felt better than other days. Felt good on the return, felt good on the serve, seeing just the ball really well. It's a pleasure to play that way because it doesn't happen very often that you feel this good. So you've got to enjoy it, but then, unfortunately, you have to quickly put it behind you and look forward. I played a great match and I'm very pleased, because I knew that tough challenge ahead. I had practised with Kevin last week here. I lost both sets I played with him in practice, so I was really happy that I was able to turn it around tonight.
I think Roger sums this one up pretty well and it was just one of those matches where he could do no wrong.
Anderson came out looking tight which is never ideal and Roger just steam rolled him from the get go. With Fed breaking immediately it set the tone allowing him to relax and play freely from the baseline.
In a nutshell Fed was just too quick, too smart and too solid. He nullified Anderson's serve and zapped whatever belief or confidence Anderson stepped onto the court within 30 seconds of the match starting.
Quite an interesting quote above too about Fed hitting with Anderson and losing both practice sets. Pretty much every player will play better in practice and less so in competitive play; but with Anderson it looks to be exacerbated which is why his record against Top 10, barring Stan, is terrible.
Predictions vs. Lopez
Played a lot against him in my life. We go way back to the European Championships, under-16 and under-18 where I lost both times against him. Then on the Tour I don't think I lost against him, but we played on all different conditions, and we know each other obviously very well because of that. It was a tough match for him tonight; played a good ’breaker. Obviously everybody knows how well he can serve. He also beat Raonic here, now Rafa. Clearly he's on a run.
Yet again no Fedal encounter as Lopez defeated his fellow countrymen in a third set tie break. I watched the latter stages of the match and Lopez came up with the goods, winning an awesome first point in the breaker and finding big serves thereafter.
Nadal didn't look terrible by any means but he's just not winning as many of the important points of late. He came up with a crazily good pass to get the mini break back in the breaker but didn't play with the intensity we've become accustomed to.
As for tonight's encounter Roger leads the H2H 11-0 and usually handles Lopez with ease. There's been a couple of close matches, notably in Madrid 2011 where Lopez choked a routine overhead at 5-2 in the third set tie break. Probably one of the funniest misses you'll ever see:
From what I've seen so far from Fed he's going to have too much for Lopez from the back of the court. If the Spaniard can serve and volley well we might see some close sets but I thin Fed gets in done in straights. 6-4 6-2.
Woww..
1st
Nice win.
Call me Kevin! Runner up or worse
K-Bomb can’t be classed as a runner up. Guy has one of the biggest serves on tour and wins 2 games in total 😆
I still remember Lopez’s 1st set performance against Ninja Federer at the US Open 2007. Probably the highest level he has ever played throughout his career.
Lopez comes to mind as being a player who has accumulated a tonne of top 10 wins but has never been ranked inside the top 10.
Yup, the stat that Lopez has the second most wins against Top 10 opposition without ever making the top 10 himself behind Santoro was all over Facebook and Twitter yesterday.
Thanks for the speedy write up. Raspberry Fed is refreshing to watch !
It was so worth waiting up to watch hopefully therer is more of the same again when he plays lopez who i must thank for beating nadal. Now if stanimal can beat novak then all will be right in my world Fed of course to win
No way I could have stayed up without power napping before hand.
Stan probably has a good chance as Djoker not looking great but he’s spent a lot of time on court against Coric and Ivo.
Fastest match in Cincy I believe. Masterclass of epic proportions and watching matches like these just remind you why this guy is still playing tennis- best of the best! Point of the match came for me at the second set, 5-1 15-30, Roger got to some amazing balls and finished it off with a half volley in the deuce court. Hope he can keep it up although I’m looking forward to the Djoker/Stan match for popcorn viewing.
So no Fedal as I expected. Normally I would’ve been fist pumping but hard not to get slightly disappointed when you could sense that Roger would’ve had a realistic shot at getting one over his nemesis in more than 3.5 years. Nadal’s FH has gone MIA- just no depth on it anymore, can he stay inside the top 8 by the end of the year? Elsewhere, Goffin and Dimitrov pulled a double choke job. Especially Grigor, he keeps getting into winning positions against Murray but can’t seal the deal.
True. Nadal’s shenanigans have cost Roger at least 6 matches in their H2H. As I’ve mentioned before, if Nadal doesn’t feel like he can beat Roger, he never makes it to their match.
And Roger’s back has cost him 1, at least …
Federer met Nadal 5 times in 2013; this year a big fat zero. Unbelievable.
And just once in 2014, exactly when Roger had just switched to a new frame.
Some great points by Fed, my fave is that one where he returned Andersons 2nd serve from the service line 😀
Nadal played ok against Lopez, just didn’t eat up the backhand slice like he can usually do. Playing like a guy with a lot to lose for some reason.
Dimitrov, 4-1 up in set 2, 5-3 up in set 3. I guess on the plus side he played pretty well and had Murray defending from way back but can’t seem to get it done.
Could it be CINCINN87… 😀
I was thinking about how can you put 7 in Cincy after Sixinatti too but very difficult.
Cincinn87 is scraping the bottom of the barrel 😆
If only he’d won 7 fewer tourneys! Cincin80 when vocalized sounds like a pretty good one.
If only he had won 3 more tourneys, Cicin90 would’ve sounded way better! 😉
Anderson was no rival for Fed last night. Fed was inspired and from game 1 you could tell that Anderson was going to suffer. Great win, just a little too fast for my taste.
If you’re a ticket buyer, I agree.
If you get up to watch at 3am like me, the quicker the better 😀
That Fed-Lopez Madrid match: No Spaniard play tennis as beautiful as Feliciano Lopez.
Very true. Lopez is my favourite Spaniard by a long way.
Yeah decent game to watch. Quite a unique style for a Spanish player when they all grow up on clay.
Fiasco can be good to watch too.
Woke up at dawn like a zombie and the match was already done and dusted. Then few hours later the post was already up and commented, wow. Guys including you Roger, way too quick!
No doubt about Fed’s win against the guy never got a set from him but nice to watch a reply knowing the result, especially he played like a God 🙂
You were 2 hours too late, was done and dusted for 4am your time 🙂
Er, Jon, it looks as though you’ve got the Fed-Lopez vid up twice, rather than last night’s highlights?
Nope? Not sure where you’re looking.
Anyone else see the same?
Looks fine today, from 2 different browsers. No idea what the problem was.
Too good from Roger, one mean machine dishing out 2 breadsticks. I was hoping for his next match against Nadal. Looks like I have wait for a while before this happens.
Next match against who? Well, at least the other guy is a lefty, and from Spain.
I’m no good at staying up late, and sadly Sky only saw fit to show last set 🙁 – I caught a bit of the 1st on you tube. Absolutely fabulous. Federer in full flight and at his very best. Loved the returning and race to the net – almost comical, but not for KA who looked bewildered for most of the match! Did I notice a bit of stubble on the usually smooth Fed chin? Of course he’s split with Gillette hasn’t he? 😆
You guys ready to watch two guys play beautiful tennis? You can’t see tennis more pleasing to the eye than what this match up can give you.