Halle (Germany): Top seed Roger Federer resumed his comeback on grass with a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in his Halle Open first round, with the Swiss looking sharper than in last week’s shock loss in Stuttgart.
The 18-time Grand Slam winner had skipped the entire claycourt season to prepare for an assault on an eighth Wimbledon title. It was incidentally his 1,100th win on the ATP circuit. Jimmy Connors heads the list with 1,256 singles victories while Federer is second.
The 35-year-old’s first match back in action last week at the Stuttgart Open was a flop when he suffered a shock loss to German veteran Tommy Haas, ranked 302 at the time, despite leading for a set and a half.
But Federer, an eight-time winner here, was in complete control against World No.66 Sugita – a lucky loser who replaced injured Lu Yen-hsun.
The World No.5 required a little longer after he wasted three match points at 5-0 before breaking Sugita again to clinch the match after 52 minutes.
“Still need some polishing on my grasscourt game,” Federer said after the match. “The more I play, the better it will be for me.”
Third seed Kei Nishikori had to work much harder to get into the next round with a 6-7(5-7), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Local hero Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed who has already won three titles this year, made light work of Italian Paolo Lorenzi during a 6-3, 6-2 workout, while his older brother Mischa also booked a second round spot with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Lukas Lacko.
Agencies
