Roger Federer was stunned by Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis, the world No. 114, in the Hamburg clay-court semi-finals on Saturday as the 17-time Grand Slam title winner suffered another worrying loss.
The former world No. 1 went down 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/4) to 22-year-old Delbonis with the defeat coming just a month after Federer was knocked out of Wimbledon by Ukraine’s world No. 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round.
Delbonis plays Fabio Fognini in the final after the Italian 12th seed reached his second successive ATP Tour final by beating Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-6 (7/1).
Photo: EPA
“I think he was a bit better than me today,” Federer said. “It’s clearly a pity I couldn’t win either of the sets because I was starting to feel better towards the end of the match, but unfortunately I couldn’t push him further and create more chances.”
Saturday’s defeat will put the 31-year-old Federer under more pressure to justify that he can still be a major force in the sport.
He came into Hamburg, where he had triumphed four times, ranked at five in the world — his lowest position since 2003 — after his Wimbledon humiliation brought to an end a run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final appearances.
Debuting a larger racket frame this week, Federer had twice been pushed to three sets on his way to the semi-finals of the Hamburg clay-court event.
“I don’t think it had much to do with the racket today,” Federer said. “I tried everything I could at this tournament. It’s been a difficult week throughout, but I’m happy I fought through many matches. It gives me the matches I was looking for.”
“I was clearly hoping, after winning a tough one yesterday, to somehow get through today and then give myself an opportunity to win the title tomorrow [Sunday]. It’s disappointing, but defeats like that happen sometimes,” he said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the final, but nevertheless I did have four good matches and these are the kind of matches I need.”
The Swiss squandered an early break lead against Delbonis and saved two set points in the 12th game to force a tiebreak. He was unable to convert his only set point at 6-5 and Delbonis took his fourth opportunity with a smash.
Federer was put under pressure early in the second set by the left-handed Delbonis, saving three break points in his opening service game and another in the sixth. The Swiss had one chance to break Delbonis in the seventh game as the Argentine’s composure slipped slightly and he let in costly unforced errors.
Federer was denied as Delbonis closed down the net, though, and again came out on the wrong side in the tiebreak. Successive groundstroke errors from Federer at 4-4 gave Delbonis two match points and he converted his first as Federer netted a forehand.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” Delbonis said. “My key was to enjoy the match and enjoy playing this kind of player, because he’s the best of all time.”
Meanwhile, Fognini was attempting to win his second title in as many weeks after claiming his first ATP Tour trophy the previous weekend in Stuttgart, Germany.
CLARO OPEN COLOMBIA
AP, BOGOTA
Hometown favorite Alejandro Falla advanced to the Claro Open Colombia final by beating Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.
Falla, a Bogota resident, is seeking his first ATP Tour title. The left-hander faces Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the hard-court tournament final at Centro de Alto Rendimiento.
Karlovic beat second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set