Swiss world No 2 Roger Federer yesterday survived a serious challenge from Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain to edge into the semi-finals of the Istanbul Open after a three-set battle lasting almost two and a half hours.
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Gimeno-Traver, 29, the world No 62, was in no way overawed by the occasion as he met Federer for the first time with the Swiss eventually pushing through to win 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
Federer showed exquisite touch at times but the Spaniard put up strong resistance. The 17-time grand slam winner was kept in place in a tight first set, only moving ahead in the tie-break which he took with a gorgeous backhand crosscourt dink that ravished the crowd.
Playing with aggression and abandon, Gimeno-Traver raced to a 5-2 lead in the second set but Federer pegged him back to force another tie-break.
Against the odds, Gimeno-Traver raised his game once more with some impressive shot-making, taking the breaker 7-5 when Federer tamely pushed a service return into the net.
But Federer showed his class in the final set, taking it 6-3 despite showing signs of frailty on his serve which forced him to save four break points.
Federer – looking to fine tune his skills on the red clay of Istanbul ahead of the French Open later this month – said he was happy for the tougher-than-expected encounter.
“The point was to win the match,” said Federer. “It was a good match, although maybe I could have won it in two sets.
“He (Gimeno-Traver) played well and fought hard. It gives me confidence to have played in a match like this.”
But Federer admitted he had been “frustrated” with some of his play. Federer will be looking to toughen his serve, which was broken twice by Gimeno-Traver and had a first serve percentage of just 64 percent.
In today’s semi-final, Federer will meet Diego Schwartzmann of Argentina who overcame fourth seed Santiago Giraldo of Chile in a bizarrely upside down match 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.
He remains on course to meet second seed Grigor Dimitrov in tomorrow’s final after the world No11 overcame Ivan Dodig.