Federer back from the brink to win in 5

Roger Federer narrowly escaped the fate of world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, coming from 2 sets down to defeat Tommy Haas in straight sets.

Monday’s 4th round match between Roger Federer and Tommy Haas had it all – massive choking, a drastic change in momentum, an epic comeback and the customary vicious crowd support for Federer. The only thing missing was excellent tennis.

Federer played well enough in the first set. Haas could not get a bead on the Swiss man’s serve, so that up until the tiebreaker, Federer had not dropped a single point on serve. The fact that he had been unable to secure a break of Haas’ serve seemed a small obstacle. Unfortunately for Federer, he chose the tiebreak to have a concentration lapse. Haas was able to win 2 points in the tiebreak – enough to snag the first set from the world No. 2.

Federer went back to business in the second set. He took advantage of some weak volleying (a foreshadowing of things to come) from Haas to gain the first advantage in the set at 2-1. Federer rolled along fairly comfortably until 4-3 with the Swiss man up a break. Errors crept into Federer’s game and Haas pounced on the opportunity to get the break of serve back.

Things began to unravel fast for Federer at this point in the match. Haas played reasonably well, but Federer consistently hit the ball to the center of the court, clearly hoping that Haas would make an error. The German did not oblige and with more shanked errors than ever before, Haas broke Federer at 5-6 to take a two sets to none lead.

Perhaps Haas would have closed the match out in 3 sets, but a terrible missed opportunity to break Federer at 4-3 in the third cost the German his concentration and ultimately the match. Federer set up his first break point of the set on an over-hit Haas volley and finally he consolidated.

With a choke for the ages, Haas surrendered the final two sets, where he won just 2 games. Federer awaits the winner of Gael Monfils and Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals.