rogerfederer.com - A narrow victory

A narrow victory

Roger was pushed to somewhere in the neighbourhood of his regal limit yesterday by unseeded Belgian Xavier Malisse before finally escaping with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory in a quarter-final that featured exquisite amounts of tension and jeopardy for the fearless Roger.

"I didn't feel so well today, but I couldn't say why", Roger commented. "On the other hand I was never really worried about losing". He is, of course, aiming for his seventh victory this season.

With Malisse refusing to wilt under either the spotlights or Roger's aura, our favourite could only summon his top form in stretches and bursts. But it was enough to break Malisse in the fourth game of the third set, with a classic running forehand that bent like an unhittable curveball on the way past a charging Malisse before dropping gently inside the line. With that, Roger finally snapped the deadlock, and held on.

It was the second straight night where Roger dropped a set - he lost the second set to Russian Dmitry Tursunov on Thursday before raising his game for a 6-0 result in the third. Last night, Roger unveiled a similarly elevated performance when it mattered. He will now face 15th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

"Well, Roger's obviously the favourite. He's a favourite going into any tournament," said Murray after scraping out a 6-4, 6-7 (0-7), 6-3 victory over erratic 14th seed Jarkko Nieminen. "Regardless of whether [Rafael] Nadal was still in or not, Federer would still be expected to win."