Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun advanced to the third round of the Western & Southern Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday, beating fourth seed and world No. 5 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic for the first time and equaling his personal best in an ATP1000 Masters tournament.
Lu, seeded No. 43 in the world, met Berdych in the second round of the tournament, finally beating him 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Lu went into the game as the outsider, having lost all three of their previous matches. Their previous encounter was only last week, where Lu lost in the second round to Berdych at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
In the second set, Lu broke serve at 2-1 up and went on to hold his serve in the next game, winning the second set. He was able to break serve again in the third set, with Berdych serving first, and again held serve to give himself a commanding position that he was able to convert into a victory.
Photo: EPA
After the match, Lu said he had found it difficult to return Berdych’s serve in the first set and took time to get into the rhythm of the match.
However, in the second set he gradually got used to Berdych’s serve and was able to put pressure on his opponent’s service, allowing him to get back into the game.
He added that he was very happy with the way he had played.
In the next round, Lu faces Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who yesterday defeated Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer won his opening match on Wednesday, a three-set victory over Vasek Pospisil that was his 300th career victory during a Masters tournament.
He is the first player to reach the mark — Rafael Nadal is second with 281 such wins.
After a two-hour struggle, the second-seeded Federer finished off Pospisil 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-2 and advanced in his quest for an unprecedented fifth title in Cincinnati.
The 300 wins “is a nice, round number,” Federer said. “I’ve had some more important ones over the one today. Nevertheless, it’s nice to reach such milestones.”
Federer did not take control until the middle of the third set, when he broke Pospisil’s serve twice for a 4-1 lead. Both players were sloppy in the breezy conditions.
“You just hope to get through the first match in tough conditions,” Federer said.
“It’s important to stay calm even though it’s frustrating for much of the match,” he added.
Top-seeded Serena Williams kept her poise, rallying from behind in both tiebreakers for a 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (9/7) win over Samantha Stosur, the Australian player who beat her in the 2011 US Open final.
“It’s good when you play a lot of close matches and you come out on top — I’m defeated, I’m down and I come back and win,” she said. “That’s very good.”
Stosur got ahead 4-0 in the first tiebreaker before Williams rallied. Stosur had two set points in the second tiebreaker, but hit a shot into the net and another one long. Williams clinched it when Stosur dumped another shot into the net.
“Against a player like that you think, ‘Oh, there is a chance there,’” Stosur said.
“More often than not they come up with the goods to shut you down,” she added.
By contrast, Andy Murray needed little more than an hour to win his opening match, facing only three break points — and fending all of them off — during a 6-3, 6-3 win over Joao Sousa.
Murray is still trying to return to form following back surgery in September last year. He also made a break with coach Ivan Lendl in March that was a big adjustment.
“It’s been a tough year,” Murray said.
“There have been a few things happen. Obviously coming back from surgery is hard. To me now, that isn’t in any way an excuse. Now I have had enough time to get over it. Obviously with Ivan, that was also tough,” he added.
John Isner, who lost the Cincinnati final last year to Nadal, moved on with a solid 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) victory over Marinko Matosevic.
“I played so unbelievably well here last year,” Isner said. “I’m off to a very good start this year. I love this tournament. I feel very comfortable here.”
There was an upset in the women’s draw. Third-seeded Petra Kvitova had trouble with her serve and lost to Elina Svitolina 6-2, 7-6 (7/2). Kvitova had nine double-faults and made just 52 percent of her first serves.
“I’m disappointed how I played today, for sure,” she said. “From the beginning, I didn’t feel very comfortable out there.”
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