Cincinnati: Novak Djokovic survived a nervous start to see off Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-1 at the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament here Tuesday as the World No.1 returned to competition for the first time since beating Roger Federer in last month’s epic Wimbledon final.
Seven-time Cincinnati champion Roger Federer, also playing his first match since Wimbledon, was quicker to get back in the groove, needing just 61 minutes to dispatch Juan Londero 6-3, 6-4 in their night match, which was halted in the second set due to rain.
In women’s singles former World No.1 Venus Williams played some ‘smart tennis’ to beat defending champion Kiki Bertens 6-3 3-6 7-6(7-4) in their second round encounter.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic fired his 15th ace on match point to defeat Querrey but his serve had been an issue earlier in their second round encounter.
“I made three double faults in my opening game and lost the break. I was quite a nervous at the start,” Djokovic said after falling behind 0-2 to the American. “I’m really glad to overcome a challenge like this and get myself going.”
Novak Djokovic will face either John Isner or Pablo Carreno Busta in the next round, with a potential quarterfinal meeting with Australian Nick Kyrgios.
Roger Federer on the other hand will take on Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka or Andrey Rublev in the third round. Wawrinka overcame Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(7-4) in a roller-coaster first-round match.
Venus on the other hand showed glimpses of her old form. After Venus and Bertens split the first two sets, the former surged ahead 3-0 in the final set thanks to some excellent volleying but struggled to put her opponent away, committing numerous errors when serving for the match at 5-3.
Bertens held at 5-5 and then forced a tie-break with an ace. Venus, however, took control of the tie-break, moving ahead 3-0 and 6-2 before sealing the win.
Meanwhile Serena Williams, who was forced to retire Sunday from the Rogers Cup because of back spasms announced that she was withdrawing from the event as she had not recovered fully.
German 13th seed Angelique Kerber exited the tournament when she lost to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-7(5-7) 2-6. The 23-year-old Kontaveit came from 3-5 down and saved a set point at 6-5 in the opener against the former World No.1. She broke Kerber twice to win the second set, winning the first nine points, and two holds to love gave her a 4-0 lead.
Reuters