March 22, 2008: Roger Federer suffers the toughest defeat since 2005
After being the dominant figure in men's tennis for the last four years, Roger Federer was forced to slow down a little bit in 2008, winning just four titles and suffering 15 losses overall (only 24 between 2004-07). Novak Djokovic toppled him in straight sets in the semi-final of the Australian Open and Andy Murray took him down in the first round of Dubai, leaving Roger eager to improve his form and restore the order at Indian Wells where he won three titles in the last four years. The Swiss lost just 14 games in the first three rounds against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Nicolas Mahut and Ivan Ljubicic while Tommy Haas gave him a walkover in the quarters to set up a clash with world no. 98 Mardy Fish.
The American entered the season ranked inside the top-40 but he came to Indian Wells ranked just inside the top-100 after failing to defend the points from 2007 in the previous tournaments. He picked up the form in the desert, though, and played one of his best matches ever to topple Federer 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes and advance to his second Masters 1000 final after Cincinnati 2003! This was their sixth meeting and the first triumph for Mardy who dropped the last nine sets played against the mighty Swiss. Also, Roger suffered his worst defeat on hard courts in terms of rival's ranking since Indianapolis 2000 when James Sekulov (191st) ousted him 6-4, 7-5 just before the 19th birthday, and this was his toughest loss overall since Monte Carlo 2005 and Richard Gasquet.
It is even more striking to see such a commanding win for Fish when we know that he served at only 34%, drawing the most from it and losing just 13 points on serve and saving the only break point he faced to keep his serve intact and mount the pressure on the other side of the net. Roger struggled to find the rhythm and his serve was exposed to Mardy's deep and precise returns, dropping 43% of the points in his games and getting broken thrice from seven break chances he offered to the American. Fish controlled his shots more efficiently, finishing the encounter with 26 winners and 19 unforced errors while Roger stood on 14 winners and 25 mistakes, not enough to lead him towards a more favorable result.
It was the best possible start for Mardy, firing a forehand winner to break Roger in game two and setting the tone for the rest of the clash. Federer could have pulled the break back in the very next game although he netted a return on the break point, the only he would create in the match. The American completed the game with two aces and he forged a 3-0 lead after just nine minutes. The Swiss was far below his usual level and had to save two break points in game four to get his name on the scoreboard and reduce the deficit to 3-1, having to raise his game to return to the positive side of the scoreboard.
That didn't happen, though, with confident Fish closing the opening set with a hold at 15 in game nine after a forehand error from Federer. Things went from bad to worse for the world no. 1 as he got broken at the start of the second set after a return winner from Mardy who cemented the lead with an ace in game two for a set and a break advantage. Roger's return stayed somewhere on the practice court and Fish grabbed another game with a service winner to increase the lead to 3-1 and move closer to the finish line.
His triumph became inevitable after scoring another break in game five and holding at love to force his rival to serve for staying in the match after only an hour. Roger saved two match points to prolong his campaign although it was all over when Mardy held at 15 in game eight for his biggest win in a career and the place in the final where he would lose to Novak Djokovic.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2TnaLvT
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