|
HALLE, Germany: World’s No. 1 Roger Federer said on
Tuesday he is looking forward to exorcising some of the frustrations
from Sunday’s Roland Garros defeat when he starts his grass court
season at Halle’s ATP tournament.
Federer, who has an unbeaten
54-match run on grass, lost in straight sets to clay court king
Rafael Nadal in Paris at the week-end.
And after a short break at his
home in Zurich, he flew into Halle, West Germany, on Tuesday ahead
of his first round game on Wednesday.
Having won at Wimbledon for the
last five years, Federer will use Halle to get over his Roland
Garros disappointment when he takes on Germany’s Michael Berrer
and is in no mood to relinquish his record.
“On Sunday night, I was
frustrated and I wanted to leave Paris as quickly as possible and I
wanted time to think things over before coming here,” said the
Swiss master.
“The match against Rafa [Nadal]
was not exhausting for me, so that helped with my decision to come
here.
“It felt funny last year to go
to Wimbledon without having been in Halle first, because each time I
went, I won it and then I won Wimbledon, so hopefully this will
continue to be so this year.”
There was good news for
Germany’s Tommy Haas here as he began his recovery from an injured
shoulder with a 6-7 (0-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek
from the Czech Republic in two hours 17 minutes.
“I am tired but pleased that my
shoulder is still okay and feels good,” said the former world’s
No. 2 who will play Germany’s No. 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the
next second.
Second seed James Blake also made
it safely into the second round where he will face Germany’s
Benjamin Becker, while defending champion Tomas Berdych is due to
play Sweden’s Robin Soderling for a place in the third round.
--AFP
|
