6- Time Champion Roger Federer In Action Tonight In Cincinnati; Venus, Isner, Berdych Also Today
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Roger Federer begins his summer swing tonight in Cincinnati against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. The Swiss, who hasn’t hit a ball since the Wimbledon final, is a 6-time champion at the event.
Federer is 3-0 in matches (8-0 in sets, 48-20 in games) against Roberto Bautista Agut going into their match at 7 pm on Center Court. Federer just turned 34 last week.
Also on the schedule are second-round matches featuring No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych and US Open champion No. 7 seed
Marin Cilic. Still seeking a place in the second-round are No. 9 seed Milos Raonic, No. 15 seed Kevin Anderson, and former Top 10 players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco, who meet each other in the second match on Stadium 3.
Good friends and frequent doubles partners John Isner and Sam Querrey will play one another for the fifth time on the ATP World Tour today. Querrey leads his FedEx Head 2 Head 3-1 against the 11th-seeded Isner, most recently upsetting his fellow American 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in the 2015 Memphis quarter-finals. However, the 2013 Cincinnati finalist Isner has been the better player this summer, posting an 11-2 record across the North American hard courts of Atlanta (W), Washington (F) and Montréal (QF). Querrey is 2-2 over the same stretch. Isner and Querrey have been partners far more often than they’ve been opponents, teaming for at least two doubles tournaments each season since 2008. The Americans are 53-39 lifetime, winning the ATP Masters 1000 title at Rome in 2011 and an ATP World Tour 500 title at Memphis in 2010.
Borna Coric and Alexander Zverev, the youngest players in the Top 100 Emirates ATP Rankings will meet for the first time on the ATP World Tour. The 18-year-olds played once in singles on the ITF Junior Circuit, with Coric defeating Zverev 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the 2013 US Open semifinals. Coric went on to win the US Open title in the final tournament of his junior career, but he finished 2013 ranked No. 2 in the junior rankings behind Zverev. Now 38th and 85th respectively in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Coric (2014 Basel, 2015 Dubai) and Zverev (2014 Hamburg, 2015 Bastad) have each reached two ATP World Tour semi-finals. Coric is seeking his first win of the North American summer hard court circuit, while Zverev was a quarter-finalist in Washington and qualified for the Cincinnati main draw by beating No. 7 seed Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-2 and No. 10 seed Denis Istomin 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Women’s highlights today include Venus Williams against Ana Ivanovic, Washington champ Sloane Stephens takes on Miami finalist Carla Saurez Navarro and Lauren Davis meet Victoria Azarenka.
Yesterday, despite a lengthy rain delay many of the matches were completed. Mardy Fish collected his first win since his heart ailing crushing Viktor Troicki 62, 62.
“I was a little surprised at my level,” said Fish. “I hadn’t practised a ton or particularly well for a little while. I was struggling with my serve. A friend of mine came in a couple days and helped, but it was still sort of a struggle even yesterday to sort of find my serve. I was obviously real happy with the level.”
Fish will face Canadian Open champion Andy Murray on Wednesday.
Ivo Karlovic beat Gilles Simon, Jack Sock blew out Bjorn Frutangelo and young Aussies Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis were winners.
On the women’s side, Venus outlasted Zarina Diyas and Madison Keys upended No. 12 seed Timea Bacsinszky 6-4, 6-3.
“It was a lot to do with learning from what happened at the French Open,” Keys said. “I think at the French she was able to kind of get me with slices and higher balls and things like that.
“But tonight it was just really a big thing about patience and staying with her mentally.”
Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza and former US Open champion Sam Stosur also lost.
TUESDAY CINCINNATI SCHEDULE
CENTER start 11:00 am
WTA – [10] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) vs S. Stephens (USA)
ATP – [11] J. Isner (USA) vs S. Querrey (USA)
Not Before 3:00 pm
WTA – [11] A. Kerber (GER) vs B. Bencic (SUI)
Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP – R. Bautista Agut (ESP) vs [2] R. Federer (SUI)
Not Before 8:30 pm
WTA – V. Williams (USA) vs [6] A. Ivanovic (SRB)
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