German player Tommy Haas, ranked 302 in the ATP tour, defeated Swiss Roger Federer, 2-6, 7-6 and 6-4 in almost two hours to reach the quarterfinals of the Stuttgart Open.
Federer, who was coming off a two-month hiatus because he decided to skip all the clay tournaments of the year, lost against the 39-year-old German who had defeated Federer in just three of their 16 head-to-head matches.
Federer, ranked fifth in the ATP tour, played his first match since April 2, when he defeated Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the Miami Open Final to win his third tournament of the season. Earlier in the year Federer had triumphed in the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
Federer was using the Stuttgart Open to prepare for Wimbledon, but looked rusty and off his game. His next stop will be the Halle Open in Germany before trying Wimbledon to win his eighth trophy at the All-England Club. After that Federer plans to continue playing the rest of the year without any further breaks, barring any injuries off couse.
Federer, lost just for the second time in six matches on grass against Haas, who earlier in the year announced he will retire after this season. The last time Haas had defeated Federer on grass was during the 2012 Halle Open final, a tournament where Federer had defeated Hass in 2005, 2006 and 2013.
With this defeat, Federer suffered only his second loss of the season.Earlier in the year Russian EvgenyDonskoy beat him in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships
Haas’s next opponent Will be fellow German Mischa Zverev, ranked 31 in the ATP, who the same day defeated Yannick Hanfmann, also from Germany, by a score of 7-6 and 6-2.
It was a good day for players from the host country as Philipp Kohschreiber, also advance to quarterfinals by beating American Steve Johnson 7-6, 5-7 and 7-6.
