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Federer Ends 5-Month Title Drought at ATP Estoril
Posted on April 20, 2008
It took the small tournament in Estoril and an injured opponent for world No. 1 Roger Federer to finally win his first title of 2008. The Swiss led Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(5), 1-2 when the Russian strained a leg muscle and was forced to retire.
Federer improved his career record against Davydenko to a perfect 12-0, and a perfect start with new part-time coach Jose Higueras.
"It feels great to win a title again and the circumstances were unfortunate," Federer said. "It would have been nice for Nikolay to finish. I think it's the first time in my life that someone has retired against me -- in 70-80 finals. It was cool in the cold conditions, but it is a great start to the claycourt season to win a title."
Federer was also happy with his initial tournament pairing with Higueras in an effort to capture the lone Slam that has eluded him, the French Open.
"It's a good week for me to start off with," Federer said. "I think [Higueras] is happy for me, he didn't confuse me and we'll be off together to Monaco for hopefully a good week there."
Davydenko says he hopes to be fit for next week's Masters Series-Monte Carlo.
"When I ran to the left, I felt pain," Davydenko said. "I felt the muscles in my left leg stretch at the end of the first set. I went to speak to the ATP physio at the end of the tiebreak and received a quick massage, but I quickly knew I could not continue. I'm playing on Wednesday in Monaco, and I've been told by the physio that he expects me to be okay by then."
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