Fragile Federer wins on Rome clay return
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ROGER Federer joined Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in reaching the third round of the Rome Masters yesterday with the Swiss admitting that he was fully expecting to lose against Alexander Zverev.
“I’m cautious but extremely happy — I was expecting to lose in straight sets today,” admitted the 17-time grand slam champion, who withdrew last week from Madrid with back pain.
“That was the mindset going in. To win in straights is actually a really big surprise to me.”
The 89-minute match, won 6-3, 7-5, was the first for the 34-year-old since losing a Monte Carlo quarterfinal to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga nearly a month ago.
Even in victory Federer said he would decide at the last minute whether he can take to the court against 13th-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Joao Sousa.
Federer is playing here for the 16th time as he seeks his first Rome title. The Swiss has finished runner-up four times, most recently last year to Djokovic.
Top seed Djokovic and No. 2 Murray produced no-drama victories, with the Serb beating France’s Stephane Robert 7-5, 7-5 while the Scot put out Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3.
In women’s second-round play, Eugenie Bouchard of Canada handed second-seeded Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 defeat, the German’s second straight in an opening match after losing last week in Madrid.
Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza crushed Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-0 while Madrid quarterfinalist Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania upset injured fourth seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-2.
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