Federer survives scare in Basel opener
Top seed Roger Federer showed signs of ring rust in his first match at the Swiss Indoors on Tuesday but still had enough in the tank to push past unseeded Serbian Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and reach the last16 in Basel.
Playing in front of his home fans Federer struggled to find his usual precision, racking up 38 unforced errors, but still managed some produced his usual array of dazzling winners in a contest which stretched just past the two-hour mark, Reuters reported.
Next up for the world number three, an eight-time Basel champion, is Germany’s Jan-lennard Struff, who beat Australian John Millman 7-6(3) 6-2.
In-form Russian seventh seed Daniil Medvedev also reached the last 16 by defeating German Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 7-5.
Medvedev, winner of this month’s Japan Open as a qualifier, faces unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi next after he served up the day’s only bagel en route to beating Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel 6-0, 6-4.
Australian teenager Alexei Popyrin claimed his first main draw victory on the ATP Tour as the qualifier got the better of a tussle with compatriot Matthew Ebden, winning 7-6(4), 6-4. Kashima Antlers will face Persepolis in the 2018 AFC Champions League final, after coming back from two goals down to salvage a 3-3 draw with Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the second leg of the semifinals, and progress with a 6-5 aggregate win.
Kashima came into the second leg with a narrow one-goal lead after coming from two goals down to win the first leg 3-2 and it started the brighter of the two as the Japanese side looked to consolidate that advantage with an away goal of its own, the-afc. com reported.
Shuto Yamamoto opened the scoring for Kashima midway through the first-half on a roller-coaster night at the Suwon World Cup Stadium, before three Suwon goals in nine second-half minutes from Im Sanghyeob (52), Jo Sung-jin (53) and Dejan Damjanovic (60) spun the tie on its head.
Daigo Nishi then pulled one back for Kashima in the 64th minute to make it all square on away goals, before Serginho slammed home with eight minutes left on the clock to send his side into November’s showpiece against Persepolis from Iran.
Kashima will now welcome Persepolis to Kashima Soccer Stadium in the first leg of the final on November 3, before travelling to Tehran for the second leg a week later as both sides look to lift the coveted AFC Champions League trophy for the first time in their history.