Roger Federer Becomes The First Player To Bagel John Isner In A Tiebreaker

Roger Federer keeps piling up the records. The 34-year-old won last night over American John Isner 76, 76, 75 in an exciting match which featured many incredible shots. But the Federer made history become the first player to ever skunk John Isner in a tiebreaker, beating the Big Man 7-0 in the first set breaker.

“When you win a tiebreak 7-Love, things have to go your way,” said Federer. “You need to make some right decisions; he needs to take some bad ones. Needs to match up nicely.”

Said Isner who had won at least a point in 428 tiebreakers until last year, “Yeah, that was surprising. At 6-0 it’s hopeless, you know. So, yeah, that was a lot on me. He had a lot to do with that, as well. Could have been much better.”

Federer won a tight second set before pulling away from Isner in the third. He hasn’t lost a set this week and now at 34 he thinks that could be an advantage.

“It could be a difference,” Federer said. “I hope it will be. But if it’s not, then I’ll battle through tough matches. I’ve worked hard in the off-season. I gave myself that extra week to be in the gym, be on the practice courts. Thankfully it was nice and hot in Switzerland that time around. We also had around 90 degrees as I was practicing. So I feel like I could work on my game a little bit, I could rest up as well, so I come into now sort of the business end of the tournament with a good mindset and a good body.”

Next for Federer is Richard Gasquet on Wednesday night.

“I’m not sure if I’ve seen maybe Gasquet play as well as he has right now,” he said of the Frenchman who made the Wimbledon semifinals. “I really like the way he played in Wimbledon, and also now here. I haven’t seen that much. But the match I saw that he played against Stan and Novak at Wimbledon was impressive. He had a good attitude. He was fighting. Good shot selection.

“Now he’s backing it up. I’m sure he gained confidence from Wimbledon. That’s why I expect it to be tougher than maybe in previous years against him or previous times,” Federer added. “I feel like this could be one of the tougher Gasquets I’ve played in previous years, so I expect it to be difficult.”