Tough start for champ Federer in Shanghai
SHANGHAI: Roger Federer was given a huge scare before finally seeing off Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to open his Shanghai Masters defence in unconvincing fashion on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old Swiss top seed faces Spain’s unseeded Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday in the last 16.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion initially wasted little time stamping his mark on the tournament, breaking the 22ndranked Medvedev in the first game.
But Federer’s large cheering squad -- decked out in matching red T-shirts -- looked on in disbelief as Medvedev grabbed the second set. Federer broke in the ninth game to finally destroy Medvedev’s resolve in just under two hours.
Juan Martin del Potro and Alexander Zverev both defied illness to join Federer and Novak Djokovic in the next round.
Del Potro, the third seed, said that he is suffering from a virus and reviewing his health “hour by hour”, after labouring past France’s Richard Gasquet.
The Argentine lost Sunday’s final of the China Open in Beijing to unseeded Nikoloz Basil
PLISKOVA, SABALENKA POWER THROUGH
TIANJIN: Top seed Karolina Pliskova bulldozed her way into the Tianjin Open quarter-finals by beating Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday as the Czech power-hitter eyes a place at the WTA Finals later this month. Pliskova, currently holding eighth spot in the Race to Singapore standings, must reach the semi-finals in Tianjin to secure one of the three available qualifying places for the seasonending tournament starting on Oct. 21.
ZVEREV WON’T PLAY NOV 2019 DAVIS CUP
SHANGHAI:ALEXANDER Zverev said on Wednesday that he will not play in the new-format Davis Cup finals in November 2019 because he needs the time off, calling the scheduling “crazy”. “Because in November I do not want to play tennis anymore,” the world number five said. “I think all the top guys will say the same thing. We have one and a half months off in our season, and that’s end of November and December.”