Federer Shocked by Seppi at Australian Open

January 23, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Italian Andreas Seppi entered Friday’s third-round match with Roger Federer with an 0-10 record against the world number two from Switzerland. He changed that and caused the biggest upset of the 2015 Australian Open so far, ousting Federer 6-4, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5) to move into the fourth-round.

“To beat Roger first time, especially in a Grand Slam, best-of-five, is a special moment for me,” said the 46th ranked Seppi. “Of course, at the beginning, I just went on the court to enjoy the match and to play my best tennis…I was pretty calm.”

Seppi came out calm and looked like the more poised player on court. At 4-4 in the opening set, the Italian broke Federer at love to take a 5-4 set lead. Federer then jumped ahead 40/15 on Seppi’s serve, but the Italian saved a couple of break points and fought back to win the deuce, capturing the opening set 6-4.

This put Federer in a familiar position as he had also dropped the opening set in his second-round match against another Italian, Simone Bollelli. This time, however, Seppi wouldn’t let Federer take back control.

In the second frame, both players traded early breaks before Seppi was able to jump ahead 5-4. While Federer forced a tiebreak, Seppi was just too solid and was able to take the breaker to hold a commanding two set lead.

Federer played a much cleaner and more conservative set in the third. He committed just eight unforced errors and didn’t allow Seppi a single break. He broke one time himself and was able to stay alive by winning the third set 6-4.

The fourth set was all about the serves with no player allowing a break point. Both players won 43 points total in the set, but Seppi just committed a few more unforced errors which allowed him to win in a tiebreak and notch the biggest win of his career.

“Just a bad day,” said Federer after the match. “I wish I could have played better, but clearly it was tough losing the first two. [I] had chances to get back into it. I let it slip, I mean, both times in some ways. I guess I won the wrong points out there today.”

The loss means the Australian Open semifinals will be without Federer for the first time in 11 years.

Seppi moves on and will take on Australian Nick Kyrgios in the fourth-round. Kyrgios fired 25 aces to oust Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-1 in less than two hours.

Following his five-set thriller over American Tim Smyczek, third-seeded Rafael Nadal made quick work of Israel’s Dudi Sela in straight sets 6-1, 6-0, 7-5. Nadal broke Sela’s serve in seven times and hit 43 winners to 25 unforced errors to roll in one hour and 27 minutes.

“[I was] happy the way I was physically on court tonight,” said Nadal. “Obviously, happy [with] the way I played the first two sets. Then [in] the third, I made more mistakes. It’s normal to play every day with a little bit more ups and downs when you are out for awhile.”

Nadal moves into the fourth-round and will take on big-serving South African Kevin Anderson. The 14th seeded Anderson hit 52 winners to squeak past 24th seeded Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(6).

Click here for all the results from Day Five at the Australian Open.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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