Ailing Federer exits Rome tournament
ROME: Swiss third seed Roger Federer’s Rome Masters bid ended at the third round with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 defeat to Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem yesterday.
Federer, who withdrew last week from Madrid with back pain, admitted on Wednesday he had been surprised to get past second round opponent Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
Rome marks only the fourth tournament of the season for Federer, who underwent knee surgery in early February, the first operation of his career.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion only decided to face Thiem at the last minute on Central Court, and the Austrian capitalised to finish off an obviously ailing Federer in 1hr 18min.
In the quarter-finals, Thiem will now play either French 11th seed Richard Gasquet or Japan’s sixth seed Kei Nishikori, who were due to face off in a third round clash later in the day.
On Wednesday, top-ranked Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and seven-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal all advanced to the third round.
In women’s action, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and last week’s Madrid Open winner Simona Halep both lost.
Djokovic beat 35-year-old French qualifier Stephane Robert 7-5, 7-5 as he seeks a third straight title in Rome and fourth overall.
Robert unleashed a series of winners followed by wild fist pumps as he broke Djokovic’s serve early in the second set and when Djokovic eventually broke back, the Serb let out a loud demonstrative scream.
Robert hit more than twice as many winners as Djokovic, 33-16, but also committed far more unforced errors, 32-14.
“Today was an extremely difficult match,” Djokovic said. “Conditions were very tough, he was very unpredictable with his shots.
“Obviously he didn’t have anything to lose, so he was going for some shots that were amazing.
“It wasn’t easy for me to find my way through the match. When it mattered the most, I managed to make him play an extra shot and pull this one through.”
Murray never dropped his serve, hitting seven aces, as he eliminated Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3.
Nadal defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 and will next meet rising Australian player Nick Kyrgios, who beat big-serving Milos Raonic 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 on the statuelined Pietrangeli court.
Eugenie Bouchard, the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up, beat the second-seeded Kerber 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 while last year’s semifinalist Daria Gavrilova eliminated Halep 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a match that was temporarily interrupted by rain.
“In the first one-and-a-half sets I was completely not playing my game and I was completely not on the court,” Kerber said.
“I was just trying to fight back. I was not playing my best tennis. But of course I was fighting and the third set was really close. At the end she played good and won the last point.”
Also, Johanna Konta of Britain upset US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci before the Italian’s home crowd, 6-0, 6-4.