French Open: Roger Federer cruises past Maxime Teixeira

Federer, back at his best?

Roger Federer, often criticized for not being ruthless enough, silenced his critics as he thrashed French Wild Card entry, 22 year old Maxime Teixeira in straight sets 6-3, 6-0, 6-2. The former World No.1 looked like his old self as he took just 84 minutes to overcome Teixeira’s challenge. It was Federer’s 30th win this season (30-7 overall).

Federer made a great start to the match, breaking Teixeira’s serve as early as in the second game of the match. However, the World No. 181 pulled one back when he broke Federer’s serve in the very next game. Tied at 3-3 in the first set, Federer then won 13 consecutive games to overcome the early setback. His game-winning streak came to an end when the score was at 4-0 in the third set when Teixeira managed to held on his serve, the Frenchman expressed his delight by raising his arms in the air.

An on-fire Federer is the worst opponent you can get in your debut French Open campaign and the Frenchman Teixeira realized just that, as he managed to win just eight points in the entire second set. Federer hit a whopping 40 winners in the match to Teixeira’s 15 and broke the Frenchman’s serve on 7 out of 13 opportunities. He also sent in 7 aces, Teixeira managing 0. However, Federer’s tryst with unforced errors continued as the Swiss maestro committed 15 of those.

Federer was all praise for Teixeira in the post match press conference.

“He [Teixeira] fought hard, and afterwards he was trying to get the best score. If you do this, you’ll play differently and mentally might be somewhere else compared to the beginning of the match, so the score was balanced for one and a half sets, but even then he fought hard, and then I think it was a good match. “

Speaking on Nadal’s five setter against Isner, Federer said:

“Yes, I saw, I watched a little, and no surprise that Isner has managed to keep his serve. It was a bit tough for Rafa, but he was stronger. We all know Isner’s capabilities, and he can play well on clay. I thought he played a good match, especially off his own serve.”

Federer, who faces no.29 Janko Tipsarevic in the next round said that he was wary of Tipsarevic’s threat.

“I think he’s a dangerous player on the big courts against the big players. He played really well against these players, so let’s be careful. Let’s be ready in advance, because he can vary his game on hard courts, on clay as well. He can do all sorts of things.”

Tipsarevic took Federer to five sets at the 2009 Aussie Open.

Match in numbers