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Date: 21 Jun 2010 22:08

The Great Escape – Federer Edges Falla

Tennis World Magazine Tennis News The Great Escape – Federer Edges Falla Roger Federer had the fright of his life on Monday when he was nearly knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon by Alejandro Falla. The Colombian played the match of his life, keeping Federer on the back foot and racing to a two set lead. At 4-4 in the third set, Federer was 0-40 on his own serve and seemed doomed to suffer the greatest upset in the history of tennis. However, the Swiss superstar fought back and eventually took the set 6-4. He went down an early break in the fourth, though, and Falla had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4. But a sloppy game opened the door for Federer, who snuck in to steal the fourth set in a tie-break. By then Falla had all but given up, and tamely surrendered the final set 6-0. It was only the sixth time in Federer’s career that he came back from two sets to love down to win a match. Had he lost, it would have been the first time he got knocked out in the first round of a Grand Slam in eight years. Players who couldn’t pull of a miracle escape include Marin Cilic, who fell to Florian Mayer in straight sets, and Stanislas Wawrinka, who lost in five sets to Denis Istomin. South Africa’s Kevin Anderson also lost to Nikolay Davydenko after being up two sets and a break. The final score was 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 5-7, 7-9.