Federer struggles to beat Krajinovic in Round 1 at the Swiss Indoors

Roger Federer

Roger Federer had to fight hard to hold off Serbia's Filip Krajinovic on Tuesday, edging to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win to reach the second round of the Swiss Indoors.

The eight-time champion flirted with his earliest exit in Basel since his 1998 debut as a teenager, but came out on top in a nervy deciding set. "I was up 6-2, 3-1, it could have ended very quickly," Federer said.

"But I made life more difficult. I didn't have the best serving stats, maybe that caught up to me. "But these are different balls, more altitude than in Shanghai, it's about getting used to it. "And first rounds are always tricky, it's never a given that you are going to win."

Earlier, Jan-Lennard Struff ended the possibility of a rematch between Federer and his US Open conqueror John Millman by beating the Australian 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever