Roger Federer got away with a close call in the opening round of his favorite Wimbledon tune-up event, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(5) at the Gerry Weber Open on Monday.
Federer is seeking his eighth title in Halle, Germany, a grass-court tournament that is traditionally his preparation for Wimbledon, where he is set to chase a record eighth title later this month.
“We were not happy with the draw,” the top-seeded Federer said. “He could have won today and would have deserved it. I was lucky, although I had already been thinking that this may not be my day.”
Photo: EPA
Federer mixed some spectacular moves, including a behind-the-back shot when caught on the wrong foot, with some uncharacteristic errors.
He appeared irritated by a late challenge by the German and hit a volley wide to drop serve. Federer’s backhand into the net gave Kohlschreiber the middle set.
Federer wasted two match points at 5-4 in the third and trailed 5-3 in the tiebreaker, with Kohlschreiber having an opportunity to serve out the match.
However, he missed with a slice and then slipped while trying to reach a shot.
With the score at 5-5, Kohlschreiber hit a wild smash way out of court and then his return ended in the net, giving Federer the victory. Federer improved to 9-0 in head-to-head meetings with the German.
“I know him well, we practice together, we know each other’s game,” Federer said. “The first round on grass is always difficult and complicated.”
In other matches, rising Croatian hope Borna Coric defeated Donald Young of the US 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Alejandro Falla of Colombia defeated Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in a match between two qualifiers, while three Germans also advanced — Florian Mayer, Alexander Zverev and Dustin Brown.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier