Roger Federer continued his fine form on the American hard courts to beat Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov on Friday. The Swiss will meet defending champion John Isner for the title on Sunday.
Isner reached another Miami final by ending Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime’s historic run. He edged out his 18-year-old opponent, who was playing in his first Masters semi-final, in a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) victory.
“I enjoyed it. I think I played very well. I had to. Because I think when you let Denis play, he’s got some serious power, and he gets rhythm going.” Federer said.
“He can really put you in uncomfortable situations. So I think I did well, and I’m very happy how I played. It’s not that simple to come out and play good against a leftie right away, but it worked tonight. I needed it because Dennis (Shapovalov) is a great player already and he’ll be even better in the future.” Federer added.
Federer took control of his semi-final early, breaking Shapovalov in the third game as his young opponent shanked a backhand. He broke again in the third game of the second set. He then served his way into the final against defending champion Isner, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament this year.
“I love it, I honestly love big servers, to watch them to see if they’re going to ace every second or third point. For me that’s exciting because it’s like a penalty shootout in soccer and it’s just in tennis.” Federer said.
“I actually quite enjoyed it. So for me I’ll be the goalie on Sunday, I’ll try my very best. I’ll try to get as many balls back as possible and hopefully we’ll have a good match. “I’m excited to play John (Isner), because he really had a tough match against Felix (Auger-Aliassime) today, that was an awesome performance by him,’’ he added.
Can Roger Federer beat John Isner in Miami Open final? (Source:www.newsfactory.com)
Federer, who lost in the Indian Wells final to Dominic Thiem, won 6-2 6-4 to reach back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 finals.
