Roger Federer returned to the courts after a year long absence and despite a grueling 3-set match he was able to pull out the victory.
After a long time, fans around the world were able to see Roger Federer play today. In the
Qatar Open 2nd round he faced off against
Dan Evans with whom he trained a lot in preparation for this event and the familiarity between the two showed. Each player served strongly at the start of the match not allowing the other much. Federer showed brilliance at times but also sluggishness at times which was expected. After an up and down first set tiebreak Federer was able to emerge victorious 10-8.
In the 2nd set, he hit a bit of a wall and Evans, who played extraordinarily in this match, was able to take advantage of a break point. His play on his own serve remained strong enough for him to serve out the set 6-3. The final set followed a similar pattern. Both players were simply too good on their own serve for any breaks. Evans was the first one to carve out break poitns but Roger remained calm saving them. In the very next game, at 5-4, Federer would have his first break point in the set which saw also a match point but Evans saved it brilliantly.
Federer would have match points at 6-5 as well and this time the Swiss maestro was able to convert the first to close out the match. The final score was 7-6(10-8) 3-6 7-5 in just under two hours and 30 minutes of play. Welcome back.