Federer reacts after his 50th win of the season

Roger Federer had to dig deep to come back from a set and 2-0 down to overcome Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open.

Federer was in trouble against his fellow Swiss before he raised his game and came through 2-6 6-3 6-2.

"I fought my way out of this and I'm excited to be in the semis," said 16-time grand slam champion Federer.

He will play Ivan Ljubicic in the last four, while home favourite Robin Soderling was beaten by Florian Mayer.

World number two Federer struggled to find his rhythm against Wawrinka, who was taking advantage of his rival's uncharacteristic errors and playing with an authority as he took a grip of the match.

But Federer's game clicked into gear and he overwhelmed Wawrinka to win the match in just under two hours.

I tried, I got lucky and all of a sudden I was back in the match Roger Federer

The victory was Federer's 50th of the season - a mark he has reached in each of the past nine seasons.

"It was looking pretty bad," said Federer. "Stan was looking really good. Things were going quickly for me, I had no timing and was shanking balls.

"He was dominating, it was tough for me to stay in it. But I tried, I got lucky and all of a sudden I was back in the match."

Mayer, ranked 47th, will play Jarkko Nieminen in the other semi-final after ending the Swedish crowd's hopes of seeing Soderling play Federer in the final with a 7-6 (10-8) 6-1 victory.

"It was unbelievable to beat a top 10 player at home, indoors on his favourite surface," said Mayer.

"In the first set I had no chance on his serve, he could have won it 6-4.

"But after I won the tiebreak, I could see that he was mentally broken. I took advantage, the last three games of the match were easy."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version