BACK WITH A BANG
Federer opens with routine win over Gojowczyk
ROGER Federer began his US Open preparation with a quick 6-4, 64 defeat of Peter Gojowczyk in his first ATP Cincinnati Masters appearance since 2015.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who turned 37 last week, is pacing his tennis year, playing a limited schedule and skipping events when he feels the need to rest.
He has missed the last two editions of this tournament because of injury.
Eighth seeded Petra Kvitova used her precision serve to overpower Serena Williams 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in their second round match on Tuesday night.
Federer’s defeat of the 47thranked German in 72 minutes marked his first step towards a possible eighth title at the tournament.
“I felt good in that first match, to be honest, walking out, hardly any nerves. I think I knew what I had to do,” Federer said.
“It’s fast-court tennis. I knew my opponent was going to go for it and take big cuts at the ball. So there is only so much you can really do.
“It’s nice to have played a match so that my last match was not the Anderson match... you’ve kind of turned the page. It’s a good thing.
“The goal is now to recover from this match, take the positives with me. Of course the big goal is the US Open.”
The contest was the first for the Swiss since losing to Kevin Anderson in five sets in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on July 11.
Nick Kyrgios served 39 aces, including one to save match point, to power into the second round with a dramatic 6-7 (2-7), 75, 7-6 (11-9) win over Denis Kudla.
Last year’s losing finalist finally saw off the American on his sixth match point.
The Australian will next face Croatian Borna Coric, who beat Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 6-3.
Weekend Toronto finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas tired late in a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Belgian 11th seed David Goffin.
South Korea’s Chung Hyeon rallied past a struggling Jack Sock for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Unseeded Milos Raonic advanced past Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3 at the combined ATP and WTA event, the last major tuneup prior to the US Open on August 27.
In the women’s draw, the second set of the Petra-Serena contest was significant for Serena because it was her first set win this season against a top 10 opponent.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion won her first round match over Daria Gavrilova in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, on Monday, but appeared to run out of gas in the third set against Petra.
Czech ninth seed Karolina Pliskova made a personal breakthrough as she beat Agnieszka Radwanska for the first time after seven previous straight-sets losses to the Pole, winning 6-3, 63.