Roger Federer lost his trademark cool but found some vintage tennis as he beat Marin Cilic 6-2 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2 to move into the third round of the French Open on Thursday.
The 39-year-old Swiss brushed Cilic aside in a one-sided first set but lost the second after a heated debate with the chair umpire over the time he was taking to towel down before Cilic served knocked him out of his stride.
Twice Federer has played big-serving Cilic in Grand Slam finals, winning both, and the duo’s 11th career meeting produced some high-octane tennis in a pivotal third set.
Cilic looked dangerous when he battled back from a break down but Federer raised his game in the tiebreak to move ahead.
A Cilic double fault gifted eighth-seed Federer a break for 3-1 in the fourth set and there was no way back from there.
Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Federer, who had played only three matches in 17 months coming into Roland Garros, closed out the match in clinical fashion to set up a third-round against Germany’s 59th-ranked Dominik Koepfer.
REUTERS
