Melzer pretty good, but I'm taking Fed, 6-2 6-2. Scoot from ATL.

I think it won't be that lopsided, maybe 6-3, 6-4.

rafa is watching this match..

oh my...
melzer has asked for the trainer......

Federer is about to get another WO from Melzer who has just called the physio. That's Federer in the final without breaking sweat, and tomorrow he is bound to beat Ferrer.

melzer is in discomfort.....cant hope for anything competetive in this match..:(

federer will be fresh for the final now

melzer breaks...brilliant game

Melzer has just broken Federer, he leads 3-2.

melzer saves some bp's...and holds
4-2,fed serving

if melzer plays on like this...fed's in deep trouble

Set Melzer.

melzer takes the first set 6-4

federer still the favourite to take it in 3

Melzer takes the 1st set 64.

So saxen, how fresh will Federer be for the final?

I still believe Federer will win in the end, I don't know why, I guess because he always does except against Rafa and now Nole.

I think melzer was faking his injury

Can't believe this is the first time Melzer takes a set from Fed! That shows how poorly Fed's peers measure up to him; there are only a few exceptions.

That's the first time Melzer wins a set against Fed, well done for him!

yeah ofcourse...fake an injury after the first game of the match....he was in obvious discomfort saxenanalin

Mr Arrogant and his fans truely deserve each other!

It's quite blustery there today.

Federer will start to make the set more intensified to take it off and put the pressure back on Melzer..

is Fed playing poorly today?

fed getting beaten at his own game....

melzer breaks

atul1985,fed is not playing poorly at all...federer is getting blown away....

I hope Rafa is warming up, this might not last much longer.

I think yes, Fed not playing well today and Melzer comes with the right game plan. Melzer playing well today, just like he did against Rafa at Shanghai last year.

too good,this melzer

setback for the tournament if Fed gets beaten today...

BP federer

saved by melzer...4-2,fed serving

illie nastas is in the house

*nastase

If Melzer holds his next serve then it's all over.

Fed desperately need to break back now else would be over very soon...

melzer beat rafa at shanghai last year,won wimby doubles,made it to the semis of RG.....so he is CAPABLE,im glad he is showing us what he is capable of

Why setback? Other players are also worthy competitors. Fedal don't own this tournament. Melzer is really playing very well against Fed, he really does his homework before he comes to play.

glorious drop shot.....fed cant do a thing

Federer serving to stay in the match.

Federer holds. It's not over until the fat lady sings.

@luckystar - The crowds come to watch Fed, rafa and Djokovic etc. not Melzer. Thats why I said its a setback. PLUS everyone would have been looking forward to a Fedal final given that Djokovic is not there.

How many people watched Djokovic vs Murray final at AO? i do not have numbers but it would have been definitely lot less than Fed vs Rafa in 2009 and also Fed vs Murray in 2010.
Bottom line is that Fed and Rafa and now Djokovic are the crowd pullers (not Melzer)
Thats y Fed crashing out EARLY is a bit of a setback despite there being other worthy competitors.

The fat lady has sung.

64 64 to Melzer.

FED got outplayed....what would P.Bodo have to say about that???

so fed loses in straights. its a pity melzer isnt more consistent, he played brilliantly today.

Well Saxen, you have gone quiet? Fainted? Don't be so arrogant next time!

dissapointing for fed..as he could have gone ahead in next rounds..

Congratulation for melzer for beating Fed.

He became another player who defeated both Fed and Nadal..

Well, I am surprised, very surprised. This was totally unexpected.

saxen, never count your chickens before they are hatched.

saxen will not appear not until Rome starts and Fed wins his R2 match

Congratulations to Nadal for winning another one in Monte Carlo. The tiny chance that were 3% for Nadal losing the final (if it would have been against Federer) is down to 0% now.

Well done Melzer!

That was an interesting match. It wasn't really that Federror made an appearance, he was just lackluster and got out-played by Melzer. A pity for the tournament that Roger isn't in there any more.

its not like dat atul1985 dat i will not appear before fed do not plays any match
I have other important work also apart from watching any match
well I'm a fed fan and will remain his fan

Federer is about to get another WO from Melzer who has just called the physio. That's Federer in the final without breaking sweat, and tomorrow he is bound to beat Ferrer.
nadline
, 4/15/11 12:26 PM

arrogant post from nadline once again.

nadline, you mean its okay for rafa to get walkovers and not fed? just check out the atp website and see how 'easy' rafa's draws have been. bet you're swallowing your words now!

cheryl, this was an awful match from federer today. really awful match. he didn't show at all. To be beaten by meltzer is worrying to be honest. But it's easier these days to swallow the losses. There used to be a time when I couldn't bear it, but it doesn't matter so much anymore. I know that rafa is better them him right now and I know that novak is better than federer and rafa right now too. It all had to end some day.

monte carlo just commenting on the fact that fed had 7 break points and didn't convert any of them. I really think he lacks confidence on the big points now. I hope that he does something about it, or that something can be done.

I think with jergen, he has always been a strong player, he beat rafa once before if i remember so he must be good.

Everyone has a bad day at the office, just seems that the glory days for fed now are fewer and fewer.

on the positive side, more points at monte carlo than 2009 (didn't stan beat him then?), and he can move on to madrid and rome.

Regroup needed.

Mr Arrogant and his fans truely deserve each other!
jean
, 4/15/11 1:17 PM

jean, do you know how childish you sound when you say things like this? I think you must have a really unhappy disposition.

Ricky, reading your article, what do you think went wrong with federer's game today and what do you think he needs to do in order to improve? He's such a great clay courter and I still think second best to rafa in terms of his consistency, but not today.

would have been VERY interesting to see clay-court god Ferrer vs. Federer

Particularly when Federer does lose, I wonder whether fans in general should apply the same standards to Djokovic and Nadal.

Nadal won only 7 of his last 30 tournaments. Djokovic won only 2 of 19 tournaments in 2010. Does that mean that novak and rafa are done?

Federer won 5 of his last 14 tournaments. He reached the quarterfinal or better in every event since Estoril, almost one year ago. neither Nadal nor Djokovic have been as consistent.

Jean, it's easy to laugh at you and nadline, you show up and try so hard to make a mountain out of a molehill to put down Federer and Federer fans.

The clay season is young. There is no shame in losing to his good friend ranked No. 9 in the world (who has beaten top clay courters like Djokovic, Ferrer, Almagro and Verdasco and rafa.

Stan has done it and so has meltzer.

Maxi, it's easy to laugh at you. The fact that you ignore sexananalin's stupid comments which started this shows how shallow and bitter you are about Roger's decline. Like I said, you guys deserve each other. Have fun! Oh wait, you can't because Mr Arrogant has been given the boot thanks to Sexan's arrogant prediction! Melzer probably read her/his/it's post on TT and decided to teach you guys a lesson.

jean,

how are you today? just a little correction there sweetie, not bitter at all. have completed accepted roger just is not the same fed that dominated. I can deal with that jean. and very strange that nadline ridiculously arrogant comment

"Federer is about to get another WO from Melzer who has just called the physio. That's Federer in the final without breaking sweat, and tomorrow he is bound to beat Ferrer.
nadline
, 4/15/11 12:26 PM

attracts no comment from Jean? Is that because it's one rule for federer fans and another for rafa fans?

I am just so bored watching rafa's game. It's just the same old jean. i can't help it. Of course he'll win monaco. He's had no competition and the draw, well it's just so easy, again.

maxi , 4/15/11 3:59 PM

'I am just so bored watching rafa's game. It's just the same old jean. i can't help it. Of course he'll win monaco. He's had no competition and the draw, well it's just so easy, again'

maxi, most likely he'll play Murray in semis and Ferrer in final - if this is easy for you just wait for the clay season to be over and re-connect again when the turf shows up

no shireling. you misunderstand. i know a lot of people find federer's game boring, yet i could watch it for always. rafa's though, i just dont find it that magnimatic. it's just too easy for him on clay because i think players give up before they have even played a ball. that's what i find boring. i just want to see some fight. not to make it easy. That's what I'm trying to explain.


It's great to see murray playing so well again, so perhaps should he move into the semis, then there will be more fight from him, but i wouldn't bet on it. he respects rafa too much.

It doesn't matter that Rafa wins 7 out of 30 tournaments, as long as he wins the big ones. His ranking points say that he's the no.1 player now, that's what matters.

Fed looks like he can't do well on the slower courts these days, slower courts take away his advantage, as his opponents have more time to get to his shots, now that Fed has slowed down a bit.

maxi - I didn't say Roger was good today. Clearly he wasn't. But this wasn't like those times when he comes and shanks the ball 10 feet wide or long...he just didn't "have it" today.

cheryl, I know. ? you said it was 'an interesting' match.

I thought it was a shocker.

He's got a lot of work to do between now and the FO. He really has.

luckystar. you are probably right.

Though, I've always felt that fed transitions well - at least he always has in the past. It wasn't a criticism of rafa that he won 7 out of 30, it was a comparison to fed's win/loss over the last 12 months. dont be so touchy. rafa has done incredible right now. He's looking great, but it's just so easy when he has easy draws and players give up before they've given it a go. just want to see some fight.

maxi...
'...players give up before they even played a ball'.
Please, this is professional tennis we're talking about! One thing is to not like Rafa's game, which is a personal choice and as good as the next one, and a very different one is to say that Rafa wins because his opponents give up - I bet you didn't see the matches against Nieminen and Gasquet..neither of them gave up, they were just outplayed.
This is just an easy comment from your part but I understand that Rafa's dominance on Clay to any fan who isn't a Rafa fan might be boring.. too bad for you (I did get bored watching the days of Fed's dominance).

maxi...it is NOT easy...rafa makes it look easy...there is a difference...

rafa is playing andy tomorrow...lets see how good fuzzy has become on clay...

I was so sure Melzer wouldn't last the whole match after he called the physio, even when he broke Roger for the 1st time, I thought it was a fluke and Roger would break straight back and end up winning the match.

Maxi - ahh, I see. It was interesting insofar as I guessed that Roger was going to make a come-back on clay. I certainly wasn't implying that the tennis was interesting. It was, obviously, terrible.

This propaganda about Rafa having easy draws all the time or plyaers giving up before they played a ball, is getting repetitive and really old. It is insulting to the players who come out there and have the commitment to give it their best.

Funny that we didn't hear any of this when Fed was dominating and winning all the time. It's only when Rafa dominates on his favorite surface that we have to hear these absurd statements.

I am sorry if Fed fans are unhappy about the state of his game these days, but it's not unexpected and this is how it is when any great champion gets older. It serves no purpose to disrespect Rafa.