TENNIS – Roger Federer beat Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 to qualify for his fifth Rogers Cup in Toronto and will play against Jo Wilfred Tsonga in Sunday’s final. It will be the 37th Master 1000 final of his legendary career. He will be looking to win his third Rogers Cup after 2004 and 2006 and his 300th Master 1000 match. Will the Toronto Tournament become the “Roger’s Cup”? Diego Sampaolo
Roger Federer, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Friday, won the semifinal between two over 30 players in Toronto with another superb match in which he won 77 percent of his first serve points. He converted two of his eleven break point chances against Feliciano Lopez who had saved 27 of 29 break point chances during the week and nine in just one game in the quarter final against local favourite Milos Raonic.
Lopez saved seven break point chances while he was serving at 2-1 in the first set. It was the longest game of the match in which Feliciano went down 0-40 after three unforced errors but he managed to make up for three errors with two serve and volleys and an ace. Roger finally broke serve on his seventh break point chance after a forehand error by Lopez. The Spanish player saved two set points at 2-5 and held his serve but Federer wrapped up the first set with 6-3. The Swiss star did not face a single break point in the whole match.
Federer broke serve in the first game of the second set. In the third game he produced a spectacular tweener at 2-1 40-30. He sealed his 11th win in 11 matches against Feliciano Lopez win after 1 hour and 22 minutes with an ace to set up a mouth-watering final against Jo Wilfred Tsonga. Lopez, who beat two top-ten players Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic during the week, won only 37 percent of his first serve points.
“I think Feliciano was a bit tired. He has played a lot of good guys in the spell of a short period of time. He played back-to-back three setters the last couple of nights. I played well on serve and I was aggressive”, said Federer.
Federer leads 11-4 in his previous head-to-head matches against Tsonga. He won his previous matches in 2014 in Melbourne and Monte-Carlo. Federer will chase his third title this year after Dubai and Halle and his 80th career title. Tsonga lost against Ernests Gulbis in his only final played this year in Marseille. The Frenchman will play his first Master 1000 since his defeat against Federer in Paris Bercy in 2011. He will try to become the first Frenchman in the Open Era to win the Rogers Cup after two finals reached by Richard Gasquet in 2006 and 2012.
“When you play against Roger, it’s always special. First because you play in a big stadium. Every time the crowd is for him, so it’s a good sensation. It’s quite a good feeling. when you win against 10000 people”, said Tsonga.
