Roger Federer hit a road bump on his comeback trail from injury, losing to German teenage sensation Alexander Zverev in three sets at the Hopman Cup in Perth on Wednesday night.
The 17-time grand slam title winner went down 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) in 150 minutes as the Swiss snatched a 1-0 lead in their tie.
That Federer lost to the 19 year-old, ranked 24 in the world, wasn't a complete surprise; he's done that before.
More surprising was that he led the first set 5-2, and served for it at 5-3, but still lost it and ultimately the match.
There wasn't much between the two throughout.
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In the second set, Federer only lost four points on serve, but found himself in a second tiebreaker.
In the third, he remained calm as he saved two break points in his second service game; and another before taking a 5-4 lead.
But Zverev wouldn't go away - and with first serves consistently over 200km/h he showed why he's gaining so much attention in world tennis.
He now he holds a 2-1 record over Federer, downing him in Halle, Germany last year.
