Federer sets sights on Cincinnati title

Shakes off Toronto disappointment ahead of final pre-US Open event.

CINCINNATI: A weekend title defeat in Canada did not dent the hopes of a resurgent Roger Federer as the world number three keeps to a steady pace in his buildup to the US Open with his campaign at the Cincinnati Masters starting on Wednesday.

The Swiss, who turned 33 last week, said that while his Toronto Masters final’s loss in Toronto to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a disappointment, it was also a huge chance to gather more information on the current state of his game, which is bolstered by a new racquet.

“I’m overall pretty happy that I made the finals in my first tournament back on hard courts,” said Federer. “I had a few tough matches which clearly gave me a lot of information.

“There were things I could have done better, but overall it was a positive week. It [Cincinnati Masters] is another good tournament for me, which I’m happy about.”

Isner sails into second round

In first-round action on Monday, American John Isner redeemed himself after his early exit in Toronto a week ago, with the 11th seed beating Canadian quarter-finalist Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4.

Isner fired 15 aces in his 55-minute win only a few hours after a rainstorm caused flash flooding at the tournament site and left unpaved car parks sinking in mud and grass.

Meanwhile, Spanish 16th seed Tommy Robredo advanced over American Jack Sock 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 and France’s Gilles Simon, nursing injury last week, beat Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-2.

In women’s opening-round matches, ninth seeded Ana Ivanovic kept her back problem under control to defeat Sorona Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 7-5.

Other matches saw Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upset 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-3 while number 12 Caroline Wozniacki started with a win over Magdelena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-3.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2014.

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