World No. 3 Roger Federer set a Wimbledon rematch with Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after beginning his summer hard-court campaign with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Canadian wild card Vasek Pospisil on Wednesday afternoon at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Federer's loss to Tsonga in the Wimbledon quarter-finals was the only time he had lost a Grand Slam match after winning the first two sets. He also let slip a big lead against the Frenchman on their last visit to Montreal in 2009.
“I will not think about that Wimbledon match as much as I might think about the match we had here two years ago,” admitted Federer. “Both matches were, so to speak, not normal matches. One, I was up (5-1) in the third and I should have won. I never lose those. In Wimbledon, I lost in five sets. Again, that doesn't happen often to me. So these two matches were strange matches.”
In his first main draw appearance since Wimbledon, Federer came up against the 21-year-old Pospisil, who had notched his first tour-level victory Tuesday against Juan Ignacio Chela to set up a second-round meeting with his idol. Pospisil managed to hold his own against the two-time Rogers Cup champion through the first 11 games of the match.
Federer finally seized the lead as he capitalised on his first break point to secure the opening set and then broke open a 3-0 lead to start the second, which proved enough for the victory. The Swiss won 85 per cent of his service points and improved to a 40-8 season mark.
Federer, who celebrated his birthday Monday, said of playing his first match as a 30 year old: “It felt good. I'm still able to move. The match was tough because I was playing against a player I don't know so well. It was my first match outdoors on hard courts, although I played Davis Cup. It was a bit tough.
“I believe I didn't play so well, wasn't aggressive enough. But also I must say he didn't give me the opportunity to do that. He was playing well. So I'm happy I came out of it and I will have a second chance tomorrow.”
Federer takes a 4-2 head-to-head lead into his next match against Tsonga. The No. 13 seed fired 15 aces to defeat Australian wild card Bernard Tomic 6-3, 7-6(1) Wednesday.
“This makes you come down to earth again and you have to face reality suddenly,” said Tsonga of playing Federer next.
“Even if I beat him in Wimbledon, that doesn't mean I will be able to beat him all the time. He's still the best player of all time. I have my chances, but it's going to be difficult, of course.”
atpworldtour.com
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