Federer wins again without dropping a set.

 

Federer won again despite rain delays and erratic play in the first set. It appears he is unable to find the desperately needed rhythm to force the train back on tracks.

He was playing No.146th ranked wild card from Portuguese who had just completed his rain delayed match from the previous round. But despite all that, the wild card joker was able to earn five break points on Federer’s serve. He was able to convert two of them.

 

Federer was able to earn seven break points, converting five of them for a healthy 71 percent. Besides, Federer first serve percentage improved considerably from the mid 50’s in the previous two matches to 70 percent here. These were some of the positives for Federer, in a match that clearly indicates that Federer is still struggling.

 

After all this was 146th ranked wild card who had just completed a rain delayed match from the previous round. At least one bagel was in order with no sniffs at service breaks, absence of either one of them signals some serious work ahead, for both Jose and Federer.

Federer will next face Denis Gremelmayrfor the first time since 2005 Bangkok on Saturday, after the German World No. 104 reached his maiden ATP semifinal with a hard-fought 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Czech Jiri Vanek.

Davydenko is not home free either. He was extended to a three setter, although it was tad better than Federer, considering it was against a seeded player (7) ranked 55th in the world. But it took him two hours and 31 minutes to get through.

It appears the role is consistently being reversed at every freaking tournament Federer has played so far. Federer is the one in need of tougher quality opponents to round off the edges in his game to reverse this decline curse, but that invariably seems to be happening on the other side of the draw to players who would prefer what Federer is running into.

The walk overs, players retiring and rain delays are keeping Federer back from getting any kind of momentum to build on. It’s like one step forward with another one back. It’s difficult to accurately pinpoint the areas to improve on, and also to gauge the improvements made on the blueprint discussed at the drawing board. It’s a nightmarish situation if you are a coach, specially when you have such a small window to show results and validate your appointment to the greatest player to ever pick up a racket. Talk about pressure!!!!!!!!

Sometimes staring at the barrel of the gun results in glorious flight to stations that couldn’t have been even imagined otherwise. At other times, the pot crumbles like that proverbial pack of cards. This may be about time for the world to find out where these two jokers stand after the dust settles.