January 12, 2002: Roger Federer eases past Chela to win second ATP title
Back in 2000, the 19-year-old Roger Federer had a chance to compete in Sydney for the very first time at the brand new Sydney Olympic Park, defending the national colors of Switzerland and barely missing a singles medal. Ranked inside the top-30, the young Swiss returned to Sydney a few months later, losing in the quarter-final of the ATP 250 event to Sebastien Grosjean and returning stronger in 2002 as the top-15 player and someone who dethroned Pete Sampras at Wimbledon. Roger was among the title favorites together with another youngster Andy Roddick and this time there were no mistakes, going all the way to lift his second ATP title and first out of many on the Australian soil.
It wasn't a smooth ride towards the crown, though, facing Tommy Robredo in the opening round and beating the Spaniard 7-6, 7-6 in an hour and 27 minutes, winning just four points more than his rival but prevailing in both sets to reach the last 16. Another player from the young generation awaited in round two and Federer scored a 6-2, 6-4 triumph in 68 minutes, struggling on his serve to face no less than 15 break points but saving 12 of those to limit the damage and keep the pressure on the other side of the net. The Belgian was even worse in his games, dropping almost 60% of the points behind the initial shot and giving the serve away six times from 10 chances he offered to Roger.
In the quarters, Roger needed almost two hours to overpower a former world no. 1 Marcelo Rios 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, winning just three points more than his rival and standing on the verge of defeat in set number two. Federer got broken only once and he arranged a comeback in set number two before sealing the deal in the decider for the place in the last four. There, he took down a hard-hitting American Andy Roddick 7-6, 6-4 in just 81 minutes after taming the booming first serve of his rival and imposing his shots, especially in the pivotal moments of both sets to enter his sixth ATP final at the age of 20.
Juan Ignacio Chela stood between Roger Federer and his second ATP title, facing the only player from outside the top-50 that week in Sydney and wrapping up a 6-3, 6-3 win in dominant 53 minutes to lift the trophy and make a perfect start of the season that will also bring his first Masters 1000 crown four months later. This was their first meeting and the better-ranked player had the upper hand from start to finish on the surface that suited his game much more than in the case of his rival. Chela won just 10 points on the return, never creating a break point and failing to match that pace in his games, struggling on the second serve and getting broken on all three break points he offered to Roger.
They made a similar number of errors but the more aggressive had a clear advantage in the winners department, hitting more than 20 and reducing Juan Ignacio to under 10, controlling the pace with his serve and sharp groundstrokes to bring the match home and become the champion. As was expected, Chela stayed in touch with Federer in the longer rallies (although he had to overpower Roger in that department to stand any chance) but he was powerless in the shortest exchanges up to four strokes where Roger's initial shot made all the difference to guide him towards the finish line.
It was a solid start of the match for both players but Roger was more stable in his games, waiting for a chance on the return and seizing it at 3-2 when he forced an error from Juan Ignacio to move ahead and gain the momentum before the rest of the match. That proved to be the only loose service game of the entire set and Federer secured it with three winners on serve in game nine, gaining a 6-3 advantage after just 24 minutes. An astonishing attack and a volley winner at the net in game three of the second set gave Roger the desired break and he held after two deuces in the following game to confirm the lead, landing three winners at 3-2 to stay in front.
Serving to stay in the match at 3-5, Chela gave his serve away following a volley winner from Federer who could start to celebrate the title and head to Melbourne with a massive boost for the first Grand Slam of the season where he lost to Tommy Haas in the fourth round 8-6 in the deciding set.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2AGyQri
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