Roger Federer on Monday opened his bid for a 10th title at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, crushing German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk in what was the Swiss legend’s 1,500th career match.
The landmark 6-2, 6-1 success in his hometown set the 38-year-old up for a tilt at his 103rd title.
“I thought the match was good,” Federer said. “I felt a nice spring in my step. I was quick to the ball and it didn’t take me long to get used to the conditions, that’s positive.”
Photo: AFP
“There is a danger in playing Peter indoors since he’s already had two solid qualifying matches. He also serves great indoors, but I was able to control things,” he said.
Federer is defending champion at his hometown event and the victory improved his career record at the tournament to 72-9 and increased his Basel win streak to 21 straight matches.
Federer, who has made the Basel final on all of his past 12 visits, has this season claimed the titles in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Miami, Florida; and Halle, Germany.
Monday’s rout took just 54 minutes, with Federer forced to break back in the second set before sprinting to the win.
Australian Alex de Minaur beat Bolivian Hugo Dellien 6-1, 7-5; Henri Laaksonen knocked out French eighth seed Benoit Paire 6-3, 7-5; and Germany’s Jen-Lennard Struff defeated Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-2.
ERSTE BANK OPEN
Reuters
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini on Monday fought back from a set down to beat Britain’s Kyle Edmund 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, giving his chances of qualifying for next month’s ATP Finals a shot in the arm.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Roger Federer, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem have already qualified for the season-ending tournament in London, with Alexander Zverev and Berrettini occupying the last two available spots.
Third seed Berrettini fired 10 aces and saved four of five break points during the encounter in which the 23-year-old was forced to call for a trainer after he rolled his ankle.
However, after dropping serve once in the opening set, he broke Edmund twice and did not face a single break point in the decider to set up a second-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Dimitrov, who won his 300th match on the ATP Tour, knocked out qualifier Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 7-5 and predicted a “great match” in the next round between the two losing semi-finalists from this year’s US Open.
“He [Berrettini] has been playing well. I think above all, everything suits him more at the moment, because obviously he’s got a few matches behind his back throughout the year,” Dimitrov said. “He’s going to go for a lot of his favorite shots and he’s going to try to play his game, but at the same time I think with each match I gain confidence and each match is just as important for me.”
Russian second seed Karen Khachanov prevailed 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, while Argentine fifth seed Diego Schwartzman beat France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-4.
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