Federer continues fine form

Lucic-Baroni beats Radwanska again

MIAMI, March 26, (RTRS): Roger Federer continued his impressive 2017 campaign with a straight-sets, secondround victory at the Miami Open in Florida on Saturday.

But it was far from a cakewalk for Federer, who came within two points of losing the first set before breaking twice in the second for a 7-6(2) 6-3 triumph over American teenager Frances Tiafoe.

Next up for Federer is Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2 6-4 in a night match at Crandon Park.

Federer has a 15-5 career record against del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion.

“I would love to play against (del Potro),” Federer said, speaking before knowing who his next opponent would be. “We’ve had some epic matches against each other. I’m sure the crowd would love to see it.”

Tiafoe provided a good competitive workout for the 35-year-old Swiss maestro in his first match since he won the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday.

Tiafoe broke in the first game of the second set, but fourth seed Federer broke straight back with a sizzling backhand winner and another break was all he needed to clinch his 1094th career victory at tour level.

Tiafoe, ranked 101st in the world, has only four career victories, but he showed enough to suggest he will add to that number sooner rather than later.

Federer could be on course for a semifinal showdown with compatriot Stan Wawrinka, less than two weeks after they met in the Indian Wells final.

Top seed Wawrinka defeated Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in 65 minutes, firing seven aces in a 6-3 6-4 victory in less than favourable morning conditions.

“I’m really happy with the match today,” Wawrinka told reporters. “It’s quite tough conditions, raining and really windy today. It’s really windy on the court, so it’s never easy.

“I’m happy with the way I was moving, the way I was playing and my attitude in general was really positive,” he added. “So it’s a great match.”

Austrian number six Dominic Thiem was the only high seed to suffer a loss on Saturday.

Thiem fell to 20-year-old Croatian Borna Coric, who overcame an embarrassing brain freeze in the final game to win 6-1 7-5.

Serving for the match, Coric stopped in the middle of a rally, challenging a line call, only to be reminded by the chair umpire that he had no challenges left.

Volatile Australian Nick Kyrgios won his match, and also received a code violation warning from the chair umpire for swearing at a spectator who called out during a point. Sam Querry serves to Tommy Robredo during the Miami Open tennis tournament on March 25, in Key Biscayne Fla. Querry won 6-2, 6-3. (AP)

Kyrgios, the 12th seed, dropped his first two service games, but roared back to beat Damir Dzumhur 6-4 6-3.

Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska was the highest women’s casualty at the Miami Open on Saturday, blown away for the second time this year by Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Radwanska had no answer to the 26th seed, who rolled to a 6-0 6-3 win in barely an hour.

Lucic-Baroni also beat Radwanska at the Australian Open in January, in the second round en route to the semifinals, where she eventually fell to Serena Williams.

“She was playing unbelievable tennis today,” Radwanska, speaking about Lucic-Baroni, told the WTA.

“She was very solid from the beginning, very aggressive, hitting everything with unbelievable speed. I couldn’t do much.

“The first set went so quickly, and in the second set I had chances, but I didn’t come back and unfortunately I missed the chance to stay in the match. She was just too good today.”

Another high seed had a fright, number six Garbine Muguruza overcoming a slow start to beat China’s Zhang Shuai 4-6 6-2-6-2 in over two hours.

“Since I’ve started the year, I’ve had a lot of matches like this, and I’m expecting that every time I go on court,” Muguruza said.

“A win is a win, I don’t wish to have matches this tough every day, but I’m very happy with the way I’m facing them.”

It was Muguruza’s second victory over Zhang in barely a month, after their match in Doha in February that also went three sets.

“It’s good to know we have a great car but it’s just the beginning ... with new regulations, a new generation of cars,” Vettel said. “Mercedes have a great engine and a great car the last couple of years — we’re the ones who’ve had to catch up. Whatever happens this year, the race today doesn’t hurt.”

Vettel finished in 1 hour, 24 minutes and 11.672 seconds, almost 10 seconds clear of Hamilton, to give Ferrari its first win in Australia since Kimi Raikkonen took the title in 2007. Raikkonen, in the second Ferrari, finished fourth this year.

For the second year running, Hamilton started on pole position at the Albert Park circuit and placed second. Last year, he lost to then Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who went on to edge him for the world championship before retiring. This time, Vettel took the lead when Hamilton pitted for new tires on lap 18 and then got stuck in traffic behind Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.

Vettel was able to pit much later and gradually build up his lead as Hamilton drove conservatively on older tires to ensure he finished the race.

“That’s motor racing,” Hamilton said of the hold-up, adding it was his decision to pit and change tires. “A big congratulations to Sebastian and Ferrari.

“This shows we’ve got a real race on our hands this season and it’s a challenge we will relish. It’s going to be great for the fans.”

Mercedes won 19 of the 21 GPs last season, and Red Bull won the other two. But Red Bull was well off the pace in Melbourne, with Verstappen placing fifth — almost 29 seconds behind Vettel — and local hope Daniel Ricciardo failing to finish.

In fact, the Australian driver almost didn’t start. Ricciardo’s day started badly and kept getting worse as he got a grid penalty, missed the start after a mechanical failure in the warmup, and then retired after 28 laps.

He was among seven drivers who retired during the race. Former champion Fernando Alonso continued to struggle in his McLaren, retiring on the 50th of 57 laps, while 18-yearold Canadian rookie Lance Stroll was handed a grid penalty after needing an unscheduled gearbox change after a crash in practice and was wayward in his 40 laps on debut for Williams.

Felipe Massa earned points for Williams with a sixthplace finish, while Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were 7th and 10th in their pink cars and finished either side of Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat.

Antonio Giovinazzi placed 12th on his F1 debut for Sauber, a late replacement after Pascal Wehrlein withdrew following the opening practice sessions on Friday.

“I want to thank Sauber and Scuderia Ferrari for this opportunity,” Giovinazzi said. “It was an amazing race weekend for me.”

Ferrari leads the constructors’ standings by four points from Mercedes, with Formula One moving to Shanghai next month for the Chinese Grand Prix.

“Overall, I think not a disaster, first race weekend with the team,” said Bottas, who joined Mercedes for 2017 as a replacement for Rosberg. “It’s good to start with a podium this season and with a new team. Every position is important for the championship itself.”

Hamilton set the lap record with his qualifying run to take pole on Saturday, and there were expectations that the cars would go faster Sunday. But Michael Schumacher’s racing lap record from 2004 stood up, with Hamilton predicting the 2017 cars would go faster as the year progressed.