Roger Federer breezed into the quarter-finals of the Hamburg claycourt tournament on Thursday and played down his decision to fly in the face of fashion by switching to a larger racquet. The Swiss top seed, playing his second match since his shock second-round exit at Wimbledon, needed just over an hour to seal a 6-4, 6-3 win over 29-year-old Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic.
The 31-year-old Federer, with his world ranking down at five, his lowest for a decade, is playing in Germany with a larger 98 square-inch frame — eight inches bigger than his previous racquets.
“I guess it’s to a degree some more getting use to, just to see how it reacts on every single shot,” Federer said.
Federer, who faces Germany’s Florian Mayer in Friday’s quarter-final, squandered 10 of his 13 break points against Hajek, including five match points in the eighth game of the second set, but prevailed in 72 minutes.
