By: Aaron Xiong
With the twilight years of Roger Federer upon tennis fans, just one blink of an eye is enough to miss him play on the professional tour. No matter, the Swiss legend made his return Wednesday night in Doha, Qatar against world number 26 Dan Evans from Great Britain.
In what is Federer’s first tournament since the 2020 Australian Open due to two knee surgeries, the Swiss was looking to get back in rhythm as tennis fans around the world awaited his return. The 20 time Grand Slam champion had a bye in the opening round of the 2021 Qatar Open and faced Dan Evans in his round of 16 match.
The first set was super tight as neither player dropped serve with Dan Evans pushing for the only break point in the set at 4-4. Both pros held their serve to eventually force a first set tie-breaker at 6-6. Federer started off the tie-breaker winning the first two points before eventually losing the next three to trail 2-3. Despite a few errors and great defensive play by Evans, Federer who was leading 9-8 in the tiebreaker with set point, was able to lure the Brit into the net and hit a beautiful one handed backhand cross court passing shot to take the first set tie-breaker 10-8.
The Swiss looked to capitalize off of the first set as he forced a break point on Evans’ serve. However, the world number 26 quickly erased the break point with a serve and volley to eventually tie the second set at one game a piece. Federer, who had been slightly rusty throughout much of the match made crucial errors resulting in Dan Evans breaking his serve. Dan Evans would continue to hold his serve despite Federer hitting miraculous forehands and drop shots to win the second set six games to three and force a deciding third set.
The match was pushed to a third and final set where the Federer and Evans showed just how versatile their games are. They each held their serve up until the 10th game with Federer leading 5-4 and Evans serving to stay in the match. Federer was able to return several of the Brit’s serves and maneuver him around the court to force a match point at 40-30. Despite being down a match point, Dan Evans showed his grit again after successfully erasing the match point with another serve and volley.
In the 12th game with Federer leading 6-5 and Evans serving to stay in the match again, the Swiss Maestro took a strangle hold on the match after forcing another match point at 40-15. Evans served the ball with Roger returning off the forehand wing setting up a slow slice return from Evans. Federer quickly pounced on this opportunity and hit a laser one hand backhand down the line shot to win the match in dramatic fashion.
“Winning feels better and it was a great match. Dan played a great match and has been a great practice partner these past two weeks,” said Roger Federer in his post match interview. The 20 time Grand Slam champion also showed his compassion to the world during this COVID-19 pandemic by stating, “I hope everyone is healthy and safe and feeling alright because it’s a difficult time in the world. I hope tonight was a bit of an uplift for everything that is going on in the world.”
Federer won the match [7-6(10-8), 3-6, 7-5] and will play Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia tomorrow starting at 9:00am CST.