Roger Federer edges Benoit Paire to advance in Halle
Tennis | June 21, 2018 23:39 ISTFederer extended his grass-court winning streak to 18 matches, including his titles in Stuttgart last week and at Halle and Wimbledon last year.
Federer extended his grass-court winning streak to 18 matches, including his titles in Stuttgart last week and at Halle and Wimbledon last year.
The Swiss great, who is assured of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal, beat Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (3) to mark his return.
Federer, in his first tournament since March, was trailing Nadal by 100 points at the start of the week and is guaranteed of taking the top spot on Monday regardless of how Sunday's final goes.
Despite the 75th-ranked Argentine producing one of his best matches on grass, Federer was hardly troubled.
Prajnesh, who qualified into the tournament and stunned world number 23 Denis Shapovalov in the opening round, lost to Guido Pella 6-7(4) 4-6.
Federer hadn't played since March, when he lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Juan Martin del Potro in Miami and Indian Wells, respectively.
Federer or Nadal have won each of the past six major tournaments, equalling their second-longest stretch of dual dominance, their other six-slam streak came way back in 2008-09.
For the second year in a row, Federer opted to quit the entire clay season, where Nadal is always the favorite, to focus on grass court-play.
As usual, all eyes are on Serena Williams, no matter what — whether she's attending the most talked-about wedding of the year or practicing at Roland Garros.
Rafael Nadal recently returned from a right hip injury which forced him to retire during the fifth set of his Australian Open quarterfinal against Marin Cilic.
Nadal, who certainly enjoys playing on clay and has amassed an incredible 53 clay court titles in his career, teased Roger Federer for being `contradictory` over his decision.
Del Potro will play 20th-seeded Milos Raonic for a semifinal berth whereas Isner will face Hyeon Chung.
The Swiss tennis star's decision to not go for the 21st Grand Slam title comes after he slumped to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round of the ongoing Miami Masters.
Kokkinakis became the lowest-ranked man to beat a No. 1 player since No. 178 Francisco Clavet upset Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.
The career-threatening elbow injury sidelined the former world number one for six months after he was forced to retire in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year.
Federer's management team was instrumental in launching the Laver Cup, which pits Team Europe against Team World.
Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro jumped to sixth place after he stunned Federer 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (2) to win his first Indian Wells title on Sunday.
The win ranks right up there with Del Potro's 2009 U.S. Open title triumph, in which he beat Federer, and helping Argentina win the Davis Cup in 2016.
Federer is 18-6 in his career against del Potro, with two of the losses coming at the U.S. Open, in the 2009 final and last year's quarterfinals.
Federer saved a handful of break points in the first game of the second set and then broke Chung twice, including on a double fault to take a 5-1 lead.
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