Roger Federer is no stranger to achieving milestones in his career, but his 52-minute 6-3, 6-1, win over Yuichi Sugita at the Gerry Weber Open was a special one.
Eager to make up for his shock loss in Stuttgart last week, the world No.5 fired 8 aces and won 90% of his first service points to secure his first grass-court win of 2017. The triumph makes him only the second player in history to win 1100 matches on the tour after Jimmy Connors. Connors ended his career with 1268 victories.
“It [the milestone] was mentioned in Stuttgart but I had forgotten about it. I appreciate these numbers way more today than ever before. I think I can embrace them more. It’s a big number and I’m very happy to have a chance to hopefully add some more wins to that number,” atpworldtour.com quoted Federer as saying.
Reflecting upon his win over Sugita, who was a late replacement for the injured Yen-Hsun Lu, Federer was encouraged by his performance. After a stellar start to the season, the 35-year-old opted to skip the clay season and rest. Therefore, his win on Tuesday was his first since defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final of the Miami Open at the start of April.
“I had never played him (Sugita). And playing against me, all are always very motivated. That doesn’t make it easy. But I’m very satisfied. That was a good start into the Gerry Weber Open.” Said Federer.
This year the Swiss player is bidding to win the Halle title for a record ninth time, three times more than any other player. In the second round he will play local player Mischa Zverev. Zverev disposed of qualifier Lukas Lacko 6-4, 6-4, in his opening match.
Nishikori survives
Elsewhere at the tournament, Kei Nishikori required almost two-and-a-half hours to defeat Fernando Verdasco 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4. The Japanese third seed managed to triumphantly save nine out of the ten break points he faced.
“I think it is a challenge for me to play on grass because I haven’t played the best results yet,” said Nishikori. “I am trying to find how I can play on this surface. But I think I’m improving every year. And it was my first match, so I didn’t expect to play perfect anyway.”
Nishikori, who is yet to play an ATP Final of the grass, will next face Russia’s Karen Khachanov. The world No.38 defeated Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3.
