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Federer avoids humiliation
23/04/2008 15:56 - (SA)
Dave James
Monte Carlo - Roger Federer narrowly escaped complete humiliation on Wednesday when he came back from 1-5 down in the final set to beat Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo at the Monte Carlo Masters.
The world number one was within two points of a famous defeat before he carved out a 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7/1) second round win over the battling world number 137 who twice had the opportunity to serve for the match.
The astonishing tie will do nothing to dampen speculation that the great Swiss player could be on the verge of serious decline.
So far this year, he has lost his Australian Open title, went out in the first round in Dubai and failed to make the finals at either the Indian Wells or Miami Masters.
Even his one trophy came via default when Nikolay Davydenko was forced to retire with an injury in Estoril to hand Federer, who was also laid low by glandular fever earlier this year, his 54th career crown.
"It was a bit of a grind," said Federer, the runner-up here for the last two years, who next meets Frenchman Gael Monfils.
"I hung in there, hoping for a better spell where I would make fewer mistakes and hope that everything would come together at the right time.
'Disappointed with the way I played'
"I felt a little slow and he played so bad in the first set that he almost faked me out.
"I'm disappointed with the way I played. I came here late after Estoril where the conditions were a different. It was a lot windier there so when you come here you need time to adjust.
"But I've played six matches on clay this year and won six."
The top seed romped through the first set with breaks in the second and sixth games.
However, Federer, runner-up here to triple champion Rafael Nadal for the last two years, went spectacularly off the boil being broken in the second game of the second set on his way to trailing 0-3 and then having to save two more break points in the fourth.
But the Spaniard still went on to level the match when the Swiss went long with a service return.
Federer, who committed a huge 54 unforced errors in the tie, dropped serve twice in the decider to fall 0-4 down.
The 30-year-old Ramirez Hidalgo had chances to serve for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 but twice he choked as Federer fought back to 5-5.
The world number one's greater experience told in the tie-break as he completed his recovery when a dispirited Ramirez Hidalgo hit long after 2hrs 03mins on court.
- SAPA
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