MILESTONE FOR ROGER

Eighteen-time major champion Roger Federer picked up his first win of the grasscourt season by thrashing Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in the first round at Halle on Tuesday.

The Swiss top seed, who skipped the entire clay-court schedule in order to be fully fit for Wimbledon, brushed aside lucky loser Sugita 6-3, 6-1 in just 51 minutes, to bring up his 1100th win on the ATP Tour.

“I had never played him. And playing against me, all are always very motivated,” Federer told the Halle Open website.

“That doesn’t make it easy, but I’m very satisfied. That was a very good start into the Gerry Weber Open.”

Federer, who won his first Grand Slam title since 2012 at the Australian Open in January, lost the first match of his return to German veteran Tommy Haas in Stuttgart last week.