Swiss maestro Roger Federer didn’t take much time to progress into the second round after he made short work of Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in Tuesday’s night session at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Federer, a five-time champion hit a total of 56 winners which is way above Nishioka’s 17 as the decorated Grand Slam winner gets ready to play Benoit Paire of France in the next round.
In the very first game of the match, Federer was able to break his opponents serve and he repeated the same feat in the fifth set as Nishioka won just seven receiving points in the first set. Federer raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set as well as his dominance continued to grow more and more as the game progressed. The third set too saw the same outcome as Federer’s stronghold over the match continued to grow-this time with a 4-0 lead after he bagged a double break. But an element of sluggishness then was seen in him as Nishioka, saved a match point at 5-2.
Much to the surprise of the crowd at the Ashe stadium, Federer conceded the game and he was broken for the very first time in the next game after the Japanese won his sixth break point in the set.
Federer nonetheless kept his calm as he held on to seal a win and maintain his unblemished first-round record at the Flushing Meadows.
Gunning for a spot in the final for the eighth time-which would bring hm on par with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl, Federer said, “I’m very happy with how I played tonight. It is particularly tough for us Europeans because we don’t get this type of humidity. You are sweating so much you don’t know what has hit you.”
“It is tough so you are happy when you survive a day like this, “ he added, as quoted by BBC.
The Swiss tennis stalwart, who had an absolute domination in the competition from the years 2004 to 2009, had 41 consecutive wins before that streak was snapped by Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in the final in 2009. Federer has been able to reach the final only once since then when he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in 2015. But he said that the US Open was a, “bigger priority” this year.
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