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SPORTSWednesday 14 October
Federer loses opening match at Shanghai Masters
JUSTIN BERGMAN tournament just like a prac- lashvili 6-3, 4-6, 6-0; No. 11
Associated Press tice,” the Spaniard said. Richard Gasquet defeated
SHANGHAI (AP) — For the “I think I cannot compare Gilles Muller of Luxembourg
second straight year, Rog- with this match today.” 7-6 (4), 6-2; Jo-Wilfried Tson-
er Federer found himself In another second-round ga of France beat Victor
in trouble in his opening match, former U.S. Open Estrella Burgos 6-3, 6-2; and
match at the Shanghai champion Marin Cilic de- No. 12 Kevin Anderson of
Masters. feated Borna Coric 6-1, 6-2, South Africa eliminated
This time, he couldn’t pull a day after saving a match 37-year-old Tommy Haas of
through. point to win his first-round Germany 6-3, 7-5.
The 17-time Grand Slam match. Haas, a former second-
champion was broken Also, ninth-seeded Milos ranked player, has won
late in the third set against Raonic of Canada beat only two matches in eight
Spanish qualifier Albert Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 7-6 tournaments since return-
Ramos-Vinolas on Tuesday (5), 7-6 (2); No. 10 Gilles Si- ing from arthroscopic sur-
and lost 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3. mon of France beat Geor- gery on his right shoulder
Federer was in a similar gian qualifier Nikoloz Basi- earlier this year.q
situation last year against
Leonardo Mayer, but it Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts while playing against Albert Venus Williams rallies to advance
ended very differently. He Ramos-Vinolas of Spain during their men’s singles match at the to 2nd round in Hong Kong
saved five match points Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, China Tues-
before finally prevailing, day Oct. 13, 2015. HONG KONG (AP) — Venus route to winning the Wu-
and going on to win the Williams rallied to beat Yuli-
tournament. Associated Press ya Beygelzimer of Ukraine han Open title last month,
“Last year I got lucky,” 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday in the
Federer said. “This year I the opening set and mak- Federer hasn’t played opening round of the Hong but that it’s something she
didn’t. So it’s a pity.” ing a flurry of backhand er- since helping Switzerland Kong Open.
Federer started off slowly rors to lose the tiebreaker. win a Davis Cup match the The third-seeded Williams can cope with.
against the 70th-ranked He captured the second week after losing to Novak wore a bandage on her
Ramos-Vinolas, failing to set with ease, winning ev- Djokovic in the U.S. Open fi- left thigh and looked ham- “I’m just trying to stay on
convert two break points in ery point on his first serve, nal. He arrived in Shanghai pered in her movements.
but Ramos-Vinolas got the early to have time to adjust However, she came from a court and play smart,” Wil-
only break in the third set to the time zone and con- break down three times in
and held on to close it out. ditions, but still didn’t feel the final set to close out the liams said. “The smartest
It was the Spaniard’s first comfortable on Stadium win in 2 hours, 13 minutes.
win against a top-10 player Court. After leveling for 4-4 in the thing to do would be to
in 16 matches. “I just think the first round decider, she held her serve
“After second set I thought here in Shanghai has al- for the first time in the set play two sets.”
it will be like always, I will ways been historically quite to take a 5-4 lead before
lose,” Ramos-Vinolas said. difficult, getting used to the breaking again to secure Former No. 1 Jelena
“At the end after the break, conditions and the surface the win.
I thought, OK, maybe I can and the balls,” Federer “I like easy matches but Jankovic also advanced
do it.” said. “But he did a good there are no givens out
The last time Federer and job. You could see he’s there, and she came out with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over
Ramos-Vinolas played, at been in the groove.” and played the match of
Wimbledon in 2012, the Ramos-Vinolas has been her life and that is what I Romanian qualifier Ana
Spaniard won only three on a roll, albeit in lower-tier have to be ready for all
games. tournaments. Last month, of the time,” Williams said. Bogdan.
“I’m always cautious,” Fe- he was asked to play the “These are the kind of
derer said. “I don’t under- Catalonia championships matches you want to win “It was not an easy match.
estimate or lack respect for near his home — and he and then come out and
anybody out there. These won. improve on in your next I didn’t know my opponent
guys are all touring profes- “I was resting at home. (The match.” Williams said she
sionals, they know what tournament) was close picked up the leg injury en and it took me some time
they’re doing.” to my house. I played the
to figure her out,” Jankovic
said.
Second-seeded Angelique
Kerber defeated Italy’s
Francesca Schiavone
6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3.Two other
seeded players, No. 5 Sa-
mantha Stosur of Australia
and No. 7 Caroline Gar-
cia of France also earned
straight-set victories.
Stosur defeated Japan’s
Risa Ozaki 6-3, 6-1 while
Garcia brushed aside
American Lauren Davis 6-1,
6-3.q
