ROGER FEDERER’S FEARS ALLAYED AGAINST MAYER

Written by: Staff on 2nd September 2015

ROGER FEDERER'S FEARS ALLAYED AGAINST MAYER |

World No. 2 Roger Federer dismissed Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in a US Open first-round clash he had been very wary of since the draw was made.

The Swiss recalled his battle with Mayer from the Shanghai Rolex Masters last year, where Mayer had five match points, as one of the “luckiest” matches he has ever won, and feared a difficult contest with the Argentine at Flushing Meadows.

But Federer was untroubled against Mayer in the final match of the Arthur Ashe Stadium day session, cruising into the second round in just 77 minutes. The right-hander hit 29 winners to just 13 unforced errors and broke serve six times.

“You just don’t know how these matches are played out,” said Federer. “Looking ahead, it definitely looked like a very tough draw in the first round. For me, anyways. But then again, today was much faster than Shanghai. It’s a different place and different conditions. It allowed me to play fast-court tennis against him, which wasn’t really the case in Shanghai. Plus I wasn’t quite sure how conditions were there. The ball was flat and wasn’t bouncing at all.

“I’m playing very well at the moment. Playing with confidence. Got off to a good start. Then the match obviously can be very different… I feel good now. I actually wasn’t so confident yesterday and today. I just felt like maybe could be one of those matches I couldn’t see it coming.”

The 34-year-old Federer came into his 16th US Open appearance hot on the heels of his 87th tour-level title victory in Cincinnati two weeks ago (d. Djokovic). The Basel native is bidding to win his 18th major title and first since beating Andy Murray in the 2012 Wimbledon final. He is a five-time former champion at Flushing Meadows and has a 72-10 tournament record.

A total of 10 teenagers featured in the 2015 US Open – most at the tournament since 1990. Only two remain after the first round.

Fresh off a title run at the Winston-Salem Open, Kevin Anderson denied 17-year-old Andrey Rublev 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3 after three hours and 23 minutes. Anderson pounded 32 aces and will next face wild card Austin Krajicek in the second round.

Also falling on Tuesday were 18-year-old Alexander Zverev 6-7(0), 6-2, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 to countryman Philipp Kohlschreiber and American teens Jared Donaldson and Frances Tiafoe. Donaldson dropped a 7-6(7), 6-0, 7-6(4) decision to Lukas Rosol, while Tiafoe fell 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 to Viktor Troicki.

The lone teens advancing were Hyeon Chung 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 over James Duckworth and Yoshihito Nishioka in five sets over Paul-Henri Mathieu. Other young guns advancing were Jack Sock, who fired 24 aces to dismiss Victor Estrella Burgos 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and Dominic Thiem 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 over Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Thiem reached the Round of 16 in New York last year.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/us-open-2015-tuesday-federer-hewitt )

Topics: 2015 US Open, Andrey Rublev, Atp World Tour, Flushing Meadows, Kevin Anderson, Leonardo Mayer, New York, Roger Federer, Tennis, US Open tennis

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

September 2, 2015 at 8:56 am

-@rogerfederer’s FEARS ALLAYED AGAINST @YacaMayer- http://t.co/GUu2ylWhQo #tennis #Federer #USOpen2015 #USOpen #NewYork #flushingmeadows