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Roger Federer will face Florian Mayer in the finals of Stockholm after he beat Ivan Ljubicic in the semi finals 7-6, 6-2. Federer again struggled a bit in the first set, however appearing more steady than he did against Wawrinka, working his way back into the set as Ljubicic tried to serve it out.
After Federer forced, and won, the first set tie break before he fell behind again 1-2 in the second set. The former world number 1 managed to do what he has been so successful at over the year, change the momentum and dictate play. From 1-2 down he won five consecutive games, winning the match in just 77 minutes.
Surely Federer will be counting his lucky stars that world number 47 Florian Mayer will be his opponent in the finals. While Mayer has been having a great tournament, saving one match point to beat Jarkko Nieminen in three sets in his semi final, he will certainly have a difficult task ahead of him if he wants to take the title from Federer. Realistically it’s Federer’s title to lose.
It is not an impossible task though. Federer has been proven many times this year to be merely a man and not the unbeatable tennis God of years gone by. This season Federer has claimed a modest two titles; the Australian Open and the Cincinnati Masters.
If Federer wins it will be his 64th career title which will tie him with Pete Sampras for fourth position on the all time title record.
“I’d love to win, I’ve never won a title in Sweden, that would be something special. But it’s good to win one in any case. It’s a good feeling to walk off court as a winner. It would be nice a to win a third title, another would be great. I’ve had an amazing run in the past winning 24 straight finals. Maybe this can be the start of another streak… The confidence is obviously in my favour. But he has nothing to lose. He will come out aggressive. I’ve played him a few times and managed to beat him.”
