Roger Federer eases into Round 2 at Halle event

Roger Federer. Pic/AP, PTI

Roger Federer eased into the second round of the ATP grass-court tournament in Halle on Monday with a straight-sets win over qualifier Ilya Ivashka. Federer, who turns 40 in August, had few problems in his first match this season on grass to seal a 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 first-round win over Belarusian Ivashka, ranked 90th in the world. Federer, the fifth seed in Halle, will meet Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime or Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. "There is room for improvement, but I am happy with my first game here on grass. I feel good," said Federer, currently ranked eighth in the world, who is bidding to win the Halle tournament for the 11th time.

Having had two surgeries on his right knee in 2020, Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles, withdrew from the fourth round of the French Open last week to give himself more rest. The Swiss is using Halle to tune up for his bid to win a ninth title at Wimbledon, which starts June 28. Federer had no problems moving round the court and when the first set went to a tie-breaker, he raced into a 6-1 lead, then converted his fourth set point. Federer broke Ivashka's serve to lead 6-5 in the second, converting his fourth match point to book his place in the second round after one hour, 36 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Frenchman Corentin Moutet won his first-round match after Belgian seventh-seed David Goffin withdrew with injury at the start of the third set with the scores at 1-6, 7-5. Australian Jordan Thompson is also into the second round after a 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) win over German Daniel Altmaier. Later, sixth-seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain also bowed out when he lost his first-round match 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) to Sebastian Korda of the USA. After losing the men's French Open final to Novak Djokovic over five sets on Sunday, world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas has withdrawn from Halle with exhaustion.

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