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Tommy Haas  has become the lowest-ranked player to beat  Roger Federer  since World No. 407 Bjorn Phau at the Citi Open in Washington. The 39-year-old German knocked out the top seed of the  MercedesCup  in the second round on Wednesday, rallying 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Haas, currently ranked World No. 302, withstood 23 aces, hitting 12 of his own. He saved one match point in the tie-break of the second set, gained his second and decisive break in the third set to prevail in one hour and 54 minutes. “Pretty speechless, ” Haas said on court after the match.  “Playing Roger is always very special, especially on grass, especially here in Germany. It’s tough to be put it in words right now. A lot of emotions… Still sort of shocked myself.” Haas is also the oldest player to beat a Top 5 opponent since Jimmy Connors defeated World No. 3 Michael Stich in the second round in Memphis 1992. “At the same time he’s a very close friend of mine so it doesn’t ...

Roger Federer slumped to a shock 2-6 7-6(8) 6-4 loss to German veteran Tommy Haas at the Stuttgart Open on Wednesday (Thursday) in a disappointing comeback after the 18-times grand-slam champion missed the entire claycourt season. Federer, who opted to take time off in order to prepare for an assault on an eighth Wimbledon crown, made a sensational start to the year by winning the Australian Open and subsequent titles at Indian Wells and Miami. Despite a superb first set on grass, the 35-year-old squandered a matchpoint and lost his grip on the game in the oldest tour match, in terms of combined ages, since 1982 and suffered only his second loss of the season. "I thought it was a typical grasscourt match today. Rallies weren't very long and it was decided on a serve there or a return here," Federer told reporters. "If you don't take your chances like I didn't, leading a set and a break, you really only have yourself to blame at the end. You ha...

Former World No. 2  Tommy Haas  successfully dialed back the years on Wednesday, saving a match point to shock  Roger Federer  2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The loss is only Federer's second of the season, and the Swiss star held match points during both of them. The 35 year old also had a chance to advance against World No. 116  Evgeny Donskoy  during the second round of the  Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships  in February. But for the 39-year-old Haas, this must have been what he had envisioned when he decided to come back for one more season,  following his ninth surgery in April 2016. The two-time Halle champion, who last beat Federer in the 2012 Halle final, looked as comfortable as ever on the grass in Stuttgart, outplaying Federer in the final two sets to gain his biggest win in years. Haas hadn't reached a quarter-final since 2014 in Rome, and the right-hander had gotten off to a 5-8 start this seas...

Roger Federer misslingt der Auftakt in die Rasen-Saison. Der 35-Jährige verliert beim ATP-Turnier in Stuttgart in der zweiten Runde gegen Tommy Haas mit 6:2, 5:7 (8:10), 4:6. Lange haben die Tennis-Fans auf diesen Moment gewartet:  Roger Federer  (35) ist in Stuttgart zurück auf dem Court, nach 73 Tagen Pause. Rückblick: Am 2. April gewinnt der Maestro die  Miami  Open, schlägt im Final French-Open-Sieger  Rafael Nadal  6:3 und 6:4. Federer startet fulminant ins neue Jahr, gewinnt zuvor auch die  Australian Open  und  Indian Wells . Seit Miami steht er bei keinem Wettkampf mehr auf dem Platz. Spürbar ist die lange Pause bei seiner Rückkehr zuerst überhaupt nicht, Federer macht so weiter, wie er aufgehört hat – wie ein  Feuerwerk ! Zu Null nimmt er Tommy Haas im ersten Game den Aufschlag ab. Nach nur 22 Minuten gewinnt Federer den ersten Satz. Doch plötzlich wendet sich das Blatt: Federer verpasst im zweiten Satz im Tiebreak ein...

Recently crowned French Open Champion  Jelena Ostapenko  received a warm welcome back home in Riga when she landed two days following her win in Paris.  "I feel really good, I'm happy to be home,"  Ostapenko said, according to Latvia's national broadcaster, LSM. "It was unbelievable, the atmosphere in the final was amazing,"  Ostapenko said, Latvian news agency Leta reported.  “I felt the support of the people in Latvia and in the stands."  With her victory Ostapenko also became the first player to win a debut tour level title at a grand slam since Gustavo Kuerten did it on June 8, 1997 - the day the Latvian was born. Her win also saw her catapult the WTA Rankings from No.47 to No.12 in the World.

After the Roland Garros final won over  Simona Halep ,  Jelena Ostapenko  is eager to have good results on grass, despite it's not such a suitable surface for her game so far. ' When I first played on grass I didn’t like it, I really didn’t understand it ', said Ostapenko recalling her first appearance in Wimbledon qualies at Roehampton as 15 years old . 'I didn’t see how people could play tennis on it . I thought grass is for soccer . But then I learned how to play on it and understood the movement. Now I really like it .' In two weeks her life changed. She earned $2,3 million and is now World No. 12 in the Rankings, which means she earned 35 places. Also, in Riga thousands of people watched the match against Halep on big TV screens . 'It’s not scary to have the attention, it’s always nice to have fans. Of course, there will be more pressure but I will try and deal with it. It may be difficult but I chose the life of a tennis player. I will be ...

Rafael Nadal  approaches the grass-court season in the best possible way. 43 wins and just six losses this year so far for the Mallorcan player, who has just withdrawn from ATP Queen's and will come back to compete in Wimbledon in July next .  Rafa is cautious speaking about his chances on grass. ' Since I have had problems with my knee, since 2012, playing on grass has been very complicated for me,'  said Nadal on Monday a day after the final won against  Stan Wawrinka .  'We'll see how my knee behaves. Playing on grass is very special. You need to play at a lower level. The body posture is down. You have less stability. But keep in mind  I played five finals in Wimbledon . I like playing on grass. On grass, anything can happen. I'm motivated.'  If from 2006 to 2011 he won two titles and reached three finals, from 2012 he always lost pretty early: Lukas Rosol,  Steve Darcis ,  Nick Kyrgios  and  Dustin Brown  upset...