Roger Federer was expected to breeze through opponents in the ongoing Australian Open in Melbourne Park and shall only be encountering rough sailing at the semifinals or in the finals.
People were expecting that if there will be an opposition to Federer’s consistent march to the Australian semifinals and better for the last 12 years, it shall only be from three tennis players.
It could be from four-time Australian Open champion and current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, one-time Australian Open champion and World No. 3 Rafael Nadal, or reigning Australian Open champion, currently World No. 4, and fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.
The streak ends
But Federer’s glorious streak at the Australian Open of being in the semifinals or higher since 2004 officially ended on January 23, 2015 when he suffered a defeat in the hands of Italian Andreas Seppi in four sets, in the third round of the tournament, reports Yahoo! Sports from an AP report.
The 17-time Grandslam champion bowed to the 33-year-old Seppi via a 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 loss that was both historic for the careers of Federer and the Italian tennis star.
Federer and Seppi have met 10 times in the past and the Swiss tennis superstar has not lost at all. And in those 10 games, Seppi only took one set from Federer. So their matchup on the third round almost had a foregone conclusion even before it started.
Apparently, it was not meant to be on their 11th match as Seppi pulled the rug from under Federer ousting him from the competition.
The Swiss star made a number of surprising errors during the game but none more glaring than the nine double faults he committed, giving Seppi the lift to beat him.
Special win
Minutes after the win, Seppi said that he had to believe he could win over Federer so when he fired that forehand and the ball slipped past Federer landing on the corner, he knew he just did the improbable.
Seppi said that it was a big win for him because a victory over the likes of Roger Federer or any Top 10 player would always be special. He said that although he was already leading by two-sets-to-one in the fourth set, he stayed focus and played calmly as he could in order not to get nervous.
If there was one player who could always come back from two sets down, it’s the 30-year-old Federer. He has done in the Australian open nine times and there’s just no stopping him from doing it again.
Seppi said that he felt good at the court not only because he played great tennis to overcome a great player but also because he was able to manage the emotions of playing and defeating one of the greatest, if not the greatest tennis player of all time.