FEDERER ‘FEELING GOOD’ AFTER WINNING RETURN TO CINCINNATI
Roger Federer began his US Open preparation with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Peter Gojowczyk in his first 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 past two Cincinnati Masters tournaments because of injury.
Federer’s defeat of the 47thranked German in 72 minutes marked his first step towards a possible eighth title at the Cincinnati 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.
The contest was the first for the Swiss since losing to Kevin Anderson in five sets in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on July 11.
“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,” he said.
“The goal is now to recover from this match, take the positives with me. Of course the big goal is the US Open.”
Eighth seed Dominic Thiem was forced to withdraw without hitting a ball suffering with a virus.
The Austrian played just one losing match last week in Toronto on the hard courts since making a late switch from post-Wimbledon clay.
Nick Kyrgios served 39 aces, including one to save a match point, to power into the second round with a dramatic 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 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 tune-up prior to the US Open on August 27.
In the women’s draw, 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.
The second set of the KvitovaWilliams contest was significant for Williams 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 Kvitova.
Two weeks ago, Williams suffered the worst defeat of her career in San Jose when she was crushed 6-1, 6-0 in 51 minutes by world No 39 Johanna Konta.
“I’m still at the very beginning. You know, this is a long comeback. I just began. Definitely at the very, very beginning,” Williams said.
“I’m getting there, and I’m going to just continue to work hard, and hopefully I’ll start winning more matches.”
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, 6-3.
“It was a tough round for me because I’ve never beaten her, never even taken a set,” Pliskova said.
“I was so happy when I won the first set because I thought: ‘Finally, one set for me.’”