Competing at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 for the sixth time in 2006, Roger Federer achieved his best result in the Principality, advancing to the first of three consecutive finals. A year earlier, Richard Gasquet beat the Swiss in the tie break of the deciding set of the quarterfinals.
Roger came back stronger 12 months later and beat the next star, Novak Djokovic, in the first round. The Swiss only gave up six games against Alberto Martin and Benjamin Balleret to find himself in the quarterfinals. It took Federer an hour to unseat world number 15 David Ferrer and set up the semi-final clash against Fernando Gonzalez.
It was his sixth meeting, his fourth on clay, and Roger prevailed by a dominant 6-2, 6-4 in 69 minutes to remain undefeated against the Chilean. Thus, he advanced to the first Monte Carlo final and faced Rafael Nadal. As in the previous three meetings, Federer had the upper hand from start to finish.
He defended all three break chances and mounted the pressure on the other side. González lost 42% of the points in his games and suffered three breaks from the Swiss’s six chances to propel the rival to the title match.
They had a similar number of errors, and Federer dominated the winners’ segment, hitting 20 direct points and holding Gonzalez to seven. The Chilean kept in touch in the middle distance exchanges and in the longer ones.
Roger prevailed in the shorter rallies, up to four strokes, forging his victory in that segment with efficient serves and groundstroke firsts. Federer made a difference in the first game, stealing Gonzalez’s serve with a forehand winner down the line and confirming the break with a smash winner in the second game.
The Swiss stayed in front with a perfect slice winner at 2-1 before securing another break a few minutes later after Fernando’s double fault put him up 4-1. In game six, Federer fended off two break chances and brought it home with a service winner.
Davydenko comments on King Roger
In an interview with CLAY, Davydenko believes that Roger Federer’s impending return to action at the Swiss Indoors this year will be his final act on the tennis court. “I think he is playing in Basel to finish his carrer there.
That’s my opinion,” Davydenko said. “Federer was my toughest opponent. Why? Because his forehand was extremely fast and his serve was very accurate, I could not gain any sort of control against him,” Davydenko said.