Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios, meeting for the third time in 2018, were embroiled in another great match in the Stuttgart semi-final, with the Swiss prevailing 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 and advancing to the 148th ATP final and the first in Stuttgart.
The match lasted one hour and 51 minutes, and Roger was the best player on the court, never facing a break point and dominating the second set when he broke Nick twice. The match entered a decisive tiebreaker, and Roger rallied from a 3-1 deficit, winning the last two points at 5-5 to claim victory and become world number one again.
Roger and Nick had played nine sets with each other at the time, and eight of them went into a tiebreaker, all except for the second of this one when Federer had the upper hand. Nick hit 23 aces but failed to defend his second serve the way Roger did, losing ground in the final stages to lose the opportunity to play in his first final since the first game of the season in Brisbane.
Federer lost eight points on his serve in the first set, but Nick scored three of those return points when he needed them most in the tie-break, securing it 7-2 and gaining the lead.
The Aussie saved a break opportunity with a volley winner in game two to avoid an early setback before committing a double fault to give Roger another chance in game eight. A powerful serve pulled Nick out of the abyss, and they both served well in the remaining games to set up a tie break.
Kyrgios opened it up with two service winners and grabbed a mini-break in the fourth point when he forced Roger’s error with good backhand shots.
Roger Federer won over Nick Kyrgios at Stuttgart 2018.
Two more serve winners pushed the Australian up 5-2, and a backhand winner gave him another mini-break and four set points.
It turned the former into taking the first set in style, expecting more of the same in the second set. However, it was the other way around, with Roger serving 72% and losing two points on serve, too much for Nick to handle.
The Australian served under 50% and lost nearly half of the points in his games to break twice. The first break of the match came at 1-1 after Kyrgios’ consecutive double faults.
The youngest player blew two game points at 2-4 to suffer another break after a weak forehand, disappearing from the court in the final 15 minutes. Three service winners finished the job for Roger in game eight (Nick barely bothered to make an effort at return), and the match went to the decider, with momentum from Federer’s side.
The Swiss played great tennis in the final set, losing just six points behind his serve and keeping the pressure on the Australian, who responded kindly to establish an attractive close.
There were no deuce or break opportunities, and the best way to determine the winner was to pull off another tiebreaker that Nick opened with a mind-blowing forehand return in the second point before forging a 3-1 lead with a service winner.
Roger recovered a mini-break at the next point and advanced 5-4 on a mini-break when Nick sent a forehand to the net. It wasn’t finished though, as Federer missed a forehand on the next point to keep Kyrgios alive, before match point for one of them.
Staying focused, Federer earned it with a volley winner and moved to the top after a backhand winner to reach the final and claim the ATP throne for the third time in 2018.
–
