Ailing Roger Federer ousted as Serena sails through in Rome tournament
Exit of Swiss star makes preparations for French Open all the more harder, while world No 1 in women’s draw maintains bid for fourth Italian Open crown
Roger Federer’s Rome Masters bid ended with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 third round defeat to Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem, as world number one Serena Williams sailed into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Thursday.
Swiss third seed Federer, who withdrew last week from Madrid with back pain, admitted Wednesday he had been surprised to get past second round opponent Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
I’m going to have a meeting with my team, talk about options ... stay in Rome, Paris or go back to Switzerland
Rome marks only the fourth tournament of the season for Federer, who underwent knee surgery in early February, the first operation of his career.
And amid ongoing back pain that has compounded his hopes of an 18th grand slam title in Paris, Federer admitted: “I actually thought I could really do a good result in Paris. Now, after the last couple of weeks, it’s been more difficult.
“I see my chances as, you know, as not great.”
The 17-time grand slam champion only decided to face Thiem at the last minute on Central Court, and the Austrian capitalised to finish off an obviously ailing Federer in one hour and 18 minutes.