A rejuvenated Roger Federer believes he is still reaping the benefits of his extended break from tennis after a comfortable opening victory at the ATP Montreal Masters gave him his best start to a season since 2006.
The Swiss star, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Tuesday, swatted aside Canada’s world No. 116 Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-1 in just 53 minutes to book his place in the second round.
Federer was joined in the last 16 by top seed and old adversary Rafael Nadal who
routed Croatian youngster Borna Coric 6-1, 6-2.
Bopanna moves up
Rohan Bopanna, in partnership with Ivan Dodig of Croatia, got past Karen Khachanov of Russia and Dominic Thiem of Austria in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $4,917,120 ATP 1000 tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada.
In The Rogers Cup in Toronto, however, Sania Mirza had to endure the experience of giving another walkover, in the quarterfinals, as her partner Shuai Peng of China hurt her knee.
The results: At Toronto: Second round: Angelique Kerber bt Donna Vekic 6-4, 7-6(5), Karolţna Pltskovr bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3, Naomi Osaka bt Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-4, Agnieszka Radwanska bt Ttmea Babos 6-0, 6-1, Sloane Stephens bt Petra Kvitova 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2, Lucie Safarova bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-4, Ekaterina Makarova bt Johanna Konta 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3, Venus Williams bt Katerina Siniakovŕ 7-5, 7-5.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Nadia Kichenok (Ukr) & Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) w/o. Shuai Peng (Chn) & Sania Mirza; Pre-quarterfinals: Shuai Peng (Chn) & Sania Mirza bt Lauren Davis & Alison Riske (USA) 7-6(8), 6-3.
At Montreat: Second round: Rafael Nadal bt Borna Coric 6-1, 6-2, Denis Shapovalov bt Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 7-6(4), Chung Hyeon bt David Goffin 7-5, 6-3, Adrian Mannarino bt Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4, Alexander Zverev bt Richard Gasquet 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3), Nick Kyrgios bt Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-3, Kevin Anderson bt Pablo Carreo-Busta 6-3, 7-6(6), Sam Querrey bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, Grigor Dimitrov bt Mischa Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, Robin Haase bt Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 6-1, Gael Monfils bt Kei Nishikori 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-6 (6).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Dodig (Cro) & Rohan Bopanna bt Karen Khachanov (Rus) & Dominic Thiem (Aut) 7-6(3), 6-4.
