Haas plays well, but loses to Federer at Wimbledon

Posted 07 4 2009 8:53PM

LONDON - Against almost any other player, Tommy Haas would have had a fighting chance in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Instead, the German's solid play on Centre Court ended up in a relatively tame 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-3 loss to five-time champion Roger Federer on Friday.

"I served extremely well," Haas said. "So did my opponent."

Haas and Federer traded service games for the entire first set, neither earning a break point. In the second set, Federer finally managed to get one, then two, but Haas saved them both. It was on the third chance that Federer won the second set.

"Maybe I was trying to go for a little bit too much then and not following up, being aggressive, coming into the net," Haas said. "He took the first chance. The same thing happened in the third when he broke me at 3-4, a long game with chances, game points for me."

Haas matched Federer with 11 aces and won 74 per cent of the points on his first serve. Federer won 89 per cent of his first service points, but despite the dominating display, the former No. 1-ranked Swiss is still concerned about his return game for the final.

"I couldn't even get close to breaking him for almost two sets," Federer said. "Sure, that makes it maybe a bit worried, but it's something that happens quite frequently on grass. It actually also is what happened to me in Paris."

At the French Open, Haas won the opening two sets and held a break point late in the third set. If he had converted that point, the 31-year-old Haas would have served for the match and a chance to play in the quarter-finals.

"He just comes up with the goods, you know," said Haas, a three-time Australian Open finalist who has a surgically repaired right shoulder. "He can play defensive and turn it into offensive so quick, like no other player, and that makes him so extremely tough."

Federer went on to win that French Open, completing a career Grand Slam and tying him with Pete Sampras at 14 major titles. He took a little break after that win at Roland Garros, while Haas won a grass-court warmup tournament in Halle, Germany.

"I felt like, if I can get my chance and if I can use it, I can maybe do it," Haas said of Friday's match. "For him being on this occasion so many times, I feel like he just has the edge over everybody of just how he feels and how he has to play and what he has to do without thinking about it too much.

"And I think in the situation, sometimes like me today, sometimes I think maybe a little bit too much about what I want to do, and that can be the mistake sometimes."