Roger Federer storms into 4th round at U.S. Open

 Sorry Roger but the colours of this outfit really aren't working for you (Nike WTF?!)

menstennisforums.com

Five-time US Open champion Roger Federer has cruised into the fourth round, crushing Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 on Saturday night.

The left-handed World No. 63 saved three match points, including one courtesy of a double fault from Federer, but was unable to hold off the 17-time major winner.

The Swiss seventh seed needed just one hour and 21 minutes to post the victory, during which he saved the only break point he faced.

"There's always a lot of pressure coming out here on this court to perform, because you never know if you're going to play well," Federer said immediately after the match, to the crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium. "Tonight was one of those nights."

"I think I was able to really use my serve well. Because it was breezy tonight again, I used the wind a bit better and I had more variation than him, which gave me more margin in my game," said the right-hander, who lifted his win-loss record in Arthur Ashe night matches to 22-1. "I won the first set and I was able to play with the lead...that makes things easier."

The former World No. 1 acknowledged that he imposed his game and power against his younger opponent. "He plays quite unusual...he's got a very short take-back and he hits extremely flat, as flat as anybody out there, especially on the backhand side," observed Federer.

The father-of-two said his back is no longer troubling him.  "I'm not scared of getting injured anymore," Federer told Jim Courier in a post-match television interview. "I'm happy to [take] full flight and chase every ball, which is key if you want to win this tournament."

It sets up a round of 16 clash against 19th seed Tommy Robredo, who ended the run of Great Britain's Daniel Evans, 7-6(6), 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

"I think he's a very good player, mentally and physically really tough. I think he showed that in Paris this year, I think he won three five‑setters in a row," said Federer, referring to Robredo's consecutive victories over Igor Sijsling, Gael Monfils and Nicolas Almagro. "He's also a player I've known since a long time, he came through the juniors with me...I know his game well, he knows mine really well."

Federer holds a 10-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead over the 31-year-old Spaniard, though the pair haven't met since the 2011 Australian Open.

"Usually when you play against one of the best players ever, it's normal that your head-to-head is down," said Robredo. "It's a good opportunity to try to change it. I will try everything, I will try to recover as well as possible to see if I can have a great battle against him."

Should Federer maintain his undefeated record against Robredo, he could meet World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in a highly anticipated quarter-final. 

atpworldtour.com

Roger Federer is back in the second week of a major, all is right in the world of tennis :). 

One more round and we'll reach the most highly anticipated quarter in the history of this tournament. 

Boy, that's gonna be a tough one. But if Roger plays the way he did in Cincinnati it should be a hell of an entertaining one as well!.

Martina Hingis playing mixed doubles with former partner Mahesh Bhupathi at U.S. Open

India's Mahesh Bhupathi will partner five-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis in their mixed doubles campaign at the US Open. While it is the last Grand Slam for 39-year-old Bhupathi, it will be Hingis' first major since announcing her comeback post retirement.

Though unseeded at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Bhupathi and Hingis will hope to replicate their Australian Open 2006 success  when they take on Chinese Taipei's Jan Chan Yung and Sweden's Robert Lindstedt in the first round. Bhupathi will also play the men's doubles, partnering Germany's Philipp Petzschner.

sportsndtv.com

Roger Federer moves into 3rd round in routine fashion at U.S. Open

Once again I love the shoes! 

menstennisforums.com

Roger Federer was in good form on Thursday when he reached the US Open third round.

Federer, the No. 7 seed and 2004-08 champion, defeated Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

“I feel at home here, after everything that has happened,” said Federer, in an on-court interview. “I am happy with my performance today. I am results-orientated now. I don’t mind how I play, as long as I win.”

Federer hit 37 winners and converted seven of his 13 break points opportunities for victory in one hour and 35 minutes. Berlocq dropped to 0-17 against Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings. 

“It's one of those matches I expect myself to win if possible in straight sets, and gain confidence in the process,” said Federer. “All those things happened, so I'm pleased about it.”

The 32-year-old Swiss is now 50-1 in major championship second round matches and will next play No. 26 seed Sam Querrey or Adrian Mannarino. 

atpworldtour.com

I don't mind how you play as long as you win either Roger, as long as it's not ugly.  

I liked the way he served in the first round vs the second (with his 12 aces). But a win is a win.  Onward to next round.

Andy Roddick interviews Roger Federer

Selfish bastard indeed! LOL.

Martina Hingis discusses difficultly of playing doubles then vs now

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Martina Hingis is annoyed with herself. You can tell despite the smile, from the way she squints through the bright light directed at her during her news conference at the New Haven Open. Her comeback, playing doubles with former partner Daniela Hantuchova, is just five full-time weeks old, and losing a match like she did minutes earlier hasn't gotten any easier.

"I guess this week was pretty tough," Hingis said with that wry smile. "Ahhh, it's so nice being around the pool and Jacuzzi [at home]. But, that's what I've decided to do."

However, the duo were handed a pretty bad deal from the draw lords. On Wednesday, their first-round match at the US Open will be against the top seeds, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

Hingis and Hantuchova have had good weeks and a bad week, but Hingis is still able to compete at age 32. Doubles brings out the best in her game; her uncanny ability to anticipate the ball, her quickness in getting there, sharp angles, net play -- Hingis still measures up against the best.

"[She is] just the same, even better," Hantuchova said. "The way she knows the game is just ridiculous. Like I said many times that if you have it inside of you, you are going to have it forever."

It's clear: Hingis still has the fire that won her three Grand Slam titles in 1997 and two more before the end of the 1990s, before powerful serves overwhelmed her quick-witted game and foot injuries stole some of her speed.

"When you're 17, 18, you're just so hungry," Hingis said. "You go out there and play and you really want to do it. Sometimes [for] me, I miss the challenge, to be out there and the competition, but then I have to find the right dose of it."

And that perhaps could be limiting her competition to doubles. Hingis was filing paperwork with the WTA Tour and ITF for her comeback even as she was voted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame last year. She was young but had been away from the court for the requisite amount of time. And recently she had begun to see what her career had meant to people -- even during random encounters.

"It's very rewarding when you're so good at something that people really enjoy you being out there with them, or it's a reward to them," Hingis said. "It's nice to see smiling faces."

Some might contend that tennis treated Hingis harshly when she was issued a two-year ban after testing positive for a trace amount of cocaine in 2007. Later, ATP player Richard Gasquet successfully appealed similar penalties, saying a small amount of cocaine entered his system when he kissed a woman in a Miami nightclub.

Hingis simply denied having used the drug, took the complete punishment and retired.

She was away from the court, but Hingis was hardly away from the game. In 2010, Hingis returned to World TeamTennis in the summer. Later, she played doubles at a few tournaments, including Wimbledon. She coached Russian player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who was awarded the No. 32 seed in the 2013 US Open when Maria Sharapova withdrew.

"I don't understand some players that completely go away, like they hated it," Hingis said. "I never had hate for tennis. Thanks to tennis, I had everything."

Hence, The Comeback, version 3.0.

There are some differences now. In Cincinnati, Hingis said she felt so quick and light. It almost deceived her. "Sometimes the brain is playing games with you," she said.

But she sees now that not every night will be like that.

"When I used to practice and train really hard and do pretty much everything possible, I'd end up winning the tournament -- at least make finals or have a good performance," Hingis said. "Now it's harder to get through the teams."

She knows her strengths and her limits. "I'm not going to hit four aces like Serena [Williams]," Hingis said. "Believe me, I wish I could."

For Hingis, the US Open is a good barometer of a comeback, at least in one possible form.

espngo.com

Roger Federer easily into 2nd round at U.S. Open

The first two times Roger Federer and Grega Zemlja met, the Swiss superstar smoked the Slovenian. Tuesday's result was predictably similar.

The seventh-seeded Federer defeated Zemlja in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.

The two traded games to start the match before Federer took three straight games to take the first set. Federer broke Zemlja to open the second set, which he easily won. Zemlja pushed back in the third, but couldn't take the set despite breaking Federer's serve for the first time in the match.

The five-time US Open champion is trying to round back into form after battling a back issue that has hindered his game, dropping the former world No. 1 to seventh, his lowest ranking since 2002. He was noticeably sharper Tuesday, handling Zemlja from the outset.

Federer moves on to face Argentinian Carlos Berlocq in the second round.

cbssports.com

Except for that one small blip towards the end of the third set where he got broken, not a bad match for Roger.  Pretty routine in fact.  Looking forward to hopefully seeing him play at night on Thursday.

Q& A with Kim Clijsters

Last year’s United States Open was Kim Clijsters’s swan song. A three-time Open champion, Clijsters retired for the second time. This year, she will be watching the tournament from her home in Belgium, where she is expecting her second child, a boy, with her husband, the retired basketball player Brian Lynch. 

She has spent the year as a fan, particularly of her friend and fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, who reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. 

She is also working on renovating and developing a tennis club and academy in her hometown, Bree. This interview was edited and condensed.

Q. You are having a baby soon. How are you feeling?

A. Three weeks away. Busy, busy. Maybe a little too busy. The second one is going a lot faster than the first one. I still have a lot to do before the little one gets here.

Q. How will you follow the Open this year from Belgium?

A. Maybe it will be good with the time difference. Maybe I’ll be breast-feeding. It’s good to have something to watch on TV.

Q. How does this retirement feel compared with your first one? 

A. With the first one, I kind of felt really relieved. I also felt it was definite. We were going to get married. We had Jada. For a while, the feeling started to grow to try and come back. I tried to put that aside. I know how much work and how hard it was to get back into shape after having Jada. It was hard to maintain that level. I know what it’s like, and it’s not something I look forward to trying again.

Q. Will you and your husband compete for what sports your children will play?

A. We want them to play sports and want them to be active. It’s not like our son has to play basketball, has to play soccer, has to play tennis. Give them the option and see what they like. They might like music.

Q. It felt as if you were at Wimbledon this year with Kirsten Flipkens’s success. What was it like to watch?

A. I was very, very proud and emotional. We were in the States watching a lot of her matches. It was incredible to be sitting on the couch and watching her in the semifinals and the quarterfinals, knowing where she came from a year and a half ago.

Q. How do you focus on fitness now?

A. I enjoy the fact that I’m able to go running when I want to do it. I don’t have to work out for four or five hours. Now the workout is kind of relaxation. In the past, it was something I had to do.

Q. How is everything going with your tennis club and academy?

A. It’s a lot of work behind the scenes. Things I learned on the road. Things that are important. It’s not just tennis courts and a gym. It’s a place for players to do tests. Healthy food on site. Massage therapy, Pilates, yoga, mental training. It’s the full package that a young player can use already to grow as a person and tennis player. But also for players on tour that don’t have a lot of the options like I did.

Q. Last year, your retirement was a big story. This year, it’s Marion Bartoli’s. What did you think about that?

A. I was very surprised. The news came out in the States when we were sleeping here. In a way, I was shocked. In a way, you understand the emotions behind it. You can have a moment after winning a big event that it’s such a relief to win such a big event. Do I think she’ll come back? I think so. Her body felt sore. I’m a good example. I can at least say the body and the joints will stop hurting three months from now.

She might come back. If not, she’s still had a great career. She was a great person to have around on tour. To see her intense way of playing practice and matches is something we can all learn something from. She was so focused and so driven all the time.

nytimes straight sets blog

Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal U.S. Open Arthur Ashe Kids Day

rogerfedererfans.com

Martina Hingis 1st round doubles match at Rogers Cup (full match)

Martina Hingis on her return to tennis in doubles

Martina Hingis out of New Heaven doubles in first round

NEW HAVEN -- Martina Hingis owned the late 1990s on the tennis court with seven Grand Slam singles titles over a three-year stretch. More than a decade later, the "Swiss Miss" is trying to revive her career on the doubles circuit while questioning if she would ever be ready for the solo grind again.

Hingis' comeback tour, which began last month at the Southern California Open, made a brief pit stop Tuesday night at the New Haven Open at Yale, where she and partner Daniela Hantuchova were swept in straight sets by Cara Black and Vania King 6-3 6-1 in their first match in front of 3,956 fans.

"I wanted to cry," said Hingis, with a bright white smile. "I think we can play much better than that and we've shown it in the last three tournaments. It started off OK and we played pretty solid ... but then all of a sudden instead of 5-2 it's like 3-4 and it all turned around there."

After being up 3-1 in the first set, Team Hingis won only one more game the rest of the match, but the former teen sensation still stopped to sign autographs and left Stadium Court to a sea of cheers.

"It's great to have Martina back, she's really great for tennis," Black said.

The tennis world will at least get to see more of Hingis next week at the U.S. Open as a doubles act with Hantuchova, but whether the competitive juices take over and she goes solo again remains to be seen.

"Tonight is not the best night to ask," Hingis said with a chuckle. "I've always said I don't want to play singles anymore for sure and after tonight it's definitely 200 percent no. You just have to be so hungry.

"Sometimes I just feel like my life has been so great and I've been very fortunate to have this life and be on the Tour for so long, you just have to be so hungry. You have to really want it."

Hingis last played at Yale in 2002 when she was ranked eighth in the world and lost in the quarterfinals. She spent a total of 209 weeks at No. 1 in the world and was a championship contender any time she took the court at the height of her career. But ankle problems forced her out of the game and led to an early retirement in February 2003 at the ripe old age of 22. She returned in 2006 and won three singles titles, but never climbed higher than No. 6 in the world rankings. Hingis retired again in November 2007, which also happen to coincide with a failed drug test for cocaine, opting to step away instead of fight the charge.

In 2010 Hingis started playing doubles on the World Team Tennis Tour, with her most successful matches coming with partner Lindsay Davenport. But last month that changed when Hingis opted to return to the professional ranks for the third time.

However, the new Hingis does not possess quite the same inner drive as she once did.

"Sometimes I think my life is my problem because when you have those matches and you get down when you don't play well," she said. "My life is some comfortable at home and you have that comfort zone. Why would you want to suffer and put yourself into pain even in those moments when you think this is great?"

ctpost.com

The U.S. Open will be getting a huge transformation in the coming years

The US Open has a long tradition of marrying history with innovation, naming its facility for Billie Jean King and its showpiece stadium for Arthur Ashe all while breaking new ground in tennis with equal prize money, night tennis, blue courts and instant replay.

The US Open’s latest endeavor is its grandest yet: a sweeping transformation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center that will create a new Louis Armstrong Stadium, a new Grandstand, wider walkways and improved traffic flow around the grounds and a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Taken as a whole, the plan will remake the 132-year-old tournament, revitalizing its appearance and enhancing its standing as one of the great sports and entertainment spectaculars in the world.

“This transformation will make the US Open more accessible to more fans, creating a spectacular facility that will mirror the energy and excitement of New York and provide an enhanced player and fan experience,” USTA Chairman, President and CEO Dave Haggerty said during a press conference Thursday to announce the plans. “When all the pieces are in place, the National Tennis Center will be among the most fan-friendly, technologically advanced facilities in the world of sports – a leader for the 21st century and beyond.”

The total cost for the transformation is estimated at $550 million, including for the retractable roof, which is estimated in excess of $100 million. As it has done in the past, the USTA will self-finance the entire cost of the improvements through a combination of bonds and USTA revenue generation; no public funds will be utilized.

The retractable roof is being designed by ROSSETTI, the designer and architect of Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the USTA has hired Hunt Construction Group to build the retractable roof structure. As designed, the retractable roof will be constructed of flexible, translucent PTFE fabric stretched over a steel frame that will be supported by eight steel columns surrounding Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In addition to the roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, the key pieces of the transformation are building a new Louis Armstrong Stadium in its current location; razing the current Grandstand and shifting its location from the northeast corner to the southwest corner of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to better distribute fan traffic throughout the facility; and moving some of the field courts farther to the south in order to create a wider pedestrian walkway that will connect the new Grandstand to Court 17, which is located in the southeast corner of the grounds.

Construction will begin at the conclusion of the 2013 US Open, with the completion of the retractable roof for Arthur Ashe Stadium scheduled for August 2017 and the goal for the overall completion of the project slated for 2018. The first stadium to be completed is the Grandstand, planned for 2015.

Once the transformation is complete, the grounds will be able to accommodate an additional 10,000 people per day, increasing overall annual attendance by approximately 100,000 and providing an economic boost to the local community.

"The US Open is a world-class event that demands a world-class venue, [and] we’re going to transform the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the fans,” said Gordon Smith, USTA Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, adding, “We’re really proud to be a good neighbor of the Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, the borough of Queens and the City of New York, delivering over $750,000,000 in economic impact each year to this city, our home.

"To sum it up, it’s great for everyone involved, and it’s great for tennis.”

usopen.org

Martina Hingis finds recovery after matches difficult

Martina Hingis, who returned to the WTA earlier this month to play doubles, says it isn't as easy to recover as it was when she was a teenager. The 32-year-old Swiss and her partner Daniela Hantuchova have yet to advance past the second round in any of the three events they contested. They fell to the top-ranked team of Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani in Cincinnati.

“I could have played singles, doubles, and mixed the same day, and I came back the next day and I was all smiling and nothing was hurting,” Hingis told reporters about her early days on tour. “Today I play one match, and I'm like, 'Oh, my God.' I think the body is the most—she's like responding to me like, 'What are you doing to me?' But I think it takes time, and it will get better again, [I will] get used to it. There's no choice.”

The former No. 1 also said that watching her former rival, Venus Williams, still attempt to play top-level singles does not motivate her, but she is impressed by how well 31-year-old Serena Williams is playing.

“When you lose as a player like [Venus], it's not really encouraging because she plays well like first or second set and losing to players that she's not used to losing," Hingis said. "So, no, that's not encouraging at all.

"Serena it's a different story. She's got so much willpower, it's amazing. I really admire how she can still get out there and motivate herself all the time over and over all these years. But they had many more breaks. I had my break for three years, but, I was out there a lot younger. And I don't have the same body as them too. So it's a little bit different when you can hit four aces in a game. I don't have that weapon.”

tennis.com

Martina Hingis doubles run ends in 2nd round at Cincinnati Open

Tennis: The no. 1 seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci defeated Daniela Hantuchova and Martina Hingis 6-4 6-4 after an hour and 8 minutes. 

While Hantuchova can look forward to being awarded a singles and doubles wildcard into the New Haven Open event, this is the third consecutive event in which Hingis fails to win back to back matches.

Errani/Vinci saved 2 out of 4 break points they faced in the match and Hingis and Hantuchova saved 5 of the 9 they faced throughout the match, serving 1 double fault.

Former World no. 1 Hingis was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame earlier this year and announced her comeback to the Tour to only play doubles with Hantuchova, scheduled to play several tournaments in preparation for the US Open. Now, it seems the pair is undecided about competing at Flushing Meadows.

Tennis - Sara Errani, the world's no. 1 doubles player, said that Martina Hingis played unbelievably during their second round doubles match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Errani and Vinci defeated Hingis and Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday.

Errani commented, 

"Martina was playing unbelievably. It was not easy. We played a very good match today and I'm very happy that we won."

Hingis, who is now 3-3 in her doubles comeback, commented, "We started off really well. In Carlsbad, we played a great first match. Second match, being up a set and 4-2 against one of the top teams, Kops-Jones and Spears. We definitely had our opportunities today. Hopefully, soon we'll take advantage of those chances. I feel like right now we have the level of being able to play with and beat the best out there. It would be nice to beat one of those teams, which you have to be able to do to have the confidence to win tournaments."

tennisworldusa.org

Roger Federer puts up a valiant effort in Cincinnati quarter-finals

MASON, Ohio — The vintage rematch ended with Rafael Nadal pumping his arms after a perfect forehand. He was a little bit better than old nemesis Roger Federer once again.

Nadal advanced to the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Federer on Friday night, a vintage rematch that reinforced their head-to-head standings for now.

Nadal improved to 21-10 against his top rival, including wins in all of their three matches this year. A close match came down to a few points, and Nadal got most of them.

Their first meeting in Cincinnati was vintage and highlighted a day of upsets in the men’s bracket. No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Andy Murray lost in the quarter-finals. No. 1 Serena Williams moved on in the women’s bracket.

Nadal moves on, too, playing Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals.

It’s been a summer of resurgence for the 27-year-old Spaniard. He missed the end of last season with a knee injury, but has gotten into one of the best surges of his career this season. He takes a career-best 51-3 mark into the semi-finals, including a 14-1 against Top 10 opponents.

It’s been a rough summer for Federer, who was beaten by a player ranked 116th in the world at Wimbledon. And that was just the start. The 32-year-old Swiss star kept getting upset and struggled with a sore back. He also changed rackets.

Federer hoped that his annual visit to Cincinnati would help him repair his game. He’s won the tournament an unprecedented five times. As the week went along, his game got noticeably better.

The quarter-finals match was as good as any in the tournament.

Federer got the first break to go up 6-5 in the opening set and finished it off with a crosscourt backhand. Nadal got his first break of the match on the final point of the second set to even it. He broke Federer again in the second game of the third set to take control.

They moved each other around, anticipated shots, hit the lines and lobbed over each other’s heads, making one improbable shot after another while bringing fans to their feet.

nationalpost.com

Well, he may have lost but for those 1st 2 sets Roger played better then I've seen him play in months. Very much shades of the Federer of old.  

I knew that if he didn't beat Nadal in 2 sets he would most likely lose the 3rd. 

There are a lot of positives Federer can take away from this match in fact, if he plays the way he played against Nadal here, he has a real shot at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows.

Roger Federer survives into the quarters in Cincinnati

Roger Federer recovered from losing the first set 6-1 to beat Tommy Haas and reach the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals.

Roger Federer came as close to ignominy as he has done for a while before fighting back from a set down against his friend Tommy Haas to squeak into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open and retain a measure of calm before the US Open.

He remains on track to defend his title on the same side of the draw as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, who looked commanding again in beating Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-2 after a blip in Montreal last week. The world No2 finished with an ace, his seventh, and will be pleased with a first-service hit rate of 67%.

Federer, who has lost twice to long-shots since Sergiy Stakhovsky knocked him out of Wimbledon last month, was shaky for the second time in this tournament and, nursing the dregs of a back injury, has to be vulnerable not only here but in New York. He gives Murray a good chance of defending his US title, and concedes the obvious: the race to be No1 in the world is between Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Murray.

Had Federer lost to Haas – three years older than him at 35 – the consequences would have been dire indeed, given he has 1,000 points to defend here. 

The Swiss, already consigned to the edge of the elite, would have begun a slide away from the leading pack that could have endangered his place at the ATP World Tour Finals in London in November, as well as wrecking his normally rock-solid mind-set before Flushing Meadows next week. As it happened, he stayed cool when it mattered, winning 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 52 minutes.

"It was tough," Federer said. "The first set wasn't as bad as the score looked like. I was just a bit off the target, especially off the baseline. I served pretty good. It reminded me a little bit of the match a few years back in Paris when he was two sets up and a break and I came back. Some times you can think a little bit too much and it's hard to find rhythm. But I'm here to win matches, not look for rhythm.

"After the Wimbledon loss, I had a meeting with my team, and I thought it would be good to enter more tournaments. I went for a short vacation to reassess. But in Hamburg I had a bad back again. It's bad some times but right now I feel good again. I think I'm handling it pretty good, I'm confident it's going to go away, I really am. I need to do a lot of strengthening exercises, which I haven't done a lot in my career.

"After I lost [at Wimbledon], I really thought Andy was going to do it. He deserved it, trained really hard, and he believed as well.I'm a little sad I didn't see a bit more of Wimbledon after I lost. I hope Andy can keep it up. I guess it's between Novak, Andy and Rafa [to finish No 1 in the world at the end of the season]."

A respectful gathering of disciples sat awestruck in the sun through Federer's first-set agony, barely able to watch as he shanked and swung wildly. 

Haas had him by the neck at a set up and 4-2, but was suddenly met by a blizzard of long-forgotten genius as the ball at last found the middle of Federer's old Wilson 90, and he banged down three aces to go to 5-4. He held for 5-5, saving two set points, and closed it out with another break and a solid hold. In the third Federer settled back into a groove, much to the relief of the nervous customers.

theguardian.com

Martina Hingis Cincinnati Doubles 1st round highlights

Roger Federer makes victorious return at Cincinnati moves into 3rd round

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Defending champion Roger Federer opened his bid for a record sixth Cincinnati title with a 6-3, 7-6(7) win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber on Tuesday night at the Western & Southern Open.

"I think it was a match where I had to sort of just fight to come through and hope get over the finish line sort of thing," he said. "I was playing really well at times, and then sometimes it was maybe a bit up and down. But assessing the performance overall, I'm very happy. It's good to be back and playing pain free. My mind's good. I was in a good place while I was playing, so it felt nice to win at the end."

Watch Federer Interview

The 32-year-old Swiss, making his first appearance since a loss in his Gstaad opener (l. to Brands), raced through the opening set in 32 minutes. He double-faulted to give Kohlschreiber a break at 4-2 in the second set, but got back on serve in the next game. After saving a set point for Kohlschreiber at 7-6 in the tie-break, Federer capitalised on his second match point opportunity to improve to a 7-0 mark against the German.

After trying out a larger racquet in Hamburg and Gstaad, Federer returned to one with a 90 square-inch head and said he'd be playing with it through the US Open. 

"I'm going to do more racquet testing when I have, again, some more time after the US Open," he said. "I was playing for a month with the black one, but it's a prototype. At the end, I just felt like, you know what, right now I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best."

Last year, Federer  became the first player in the Open Era to win the Western & Southern Open title five times. He has a 31-7 tournament record, and will play the winner between 11th-seeded German Tommy Haas and Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the third round.

atpworldtour.com

Martina Hingis doubles comeback continues succefully

Tennis - Former world no. 1 Martina Hingis' doubles comeback continued and for the third week in a row , she and partner Daniela Hantuchova have won their first round match in the draw.

On Monday, Hingis and Hantuchova scored a 46 64 105 win over the experienced pairing of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Flavia Pennetta. Medina Garrigues and Pennetta led 64 31 but the Swiss Slovak duo fought back to win in a match tie break.

Tennis - In just her third tournament back, Martina Hingis will face the world's top ranked doubles team at the WTA Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Hingis and partner Daniela Hantuchova reached the second round in Cincinnati after a three set win on Monday over Analbel Medina Garrigues and Flavia Penneta and the duo will now meet the world no. 1 pairing of Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani. The Italians received a bye into the second round.

Looking forward to the match-up, Hingis commented, "It will be interesting because they're the No.1 doubles team in the world right now and we'll see where we stand. In the lead up to the US Open, every match for us is now important. We're looking forward to it."

Hingis is playing the third event of her comeback and in both her previous two events, she won her first round matches with Hantuchova before losing in the second round. The duo will also play in New Haven and the US Open together in the coming weeks.

tennisworldusa.org

Roger Federer fit and mentally motivated for Cincinnati Open

Roger Federer said on Saturday that the back pain that has hindered him recently is under control, and his focus is on defending his title at the Cincinnati Masters.

The Swiss, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on the practice court in the muggy Midwest venue on Thursday, is counting on "passion" to re-ignite his tennis after Wimbledon disappointment followed by injury-plagued weeks on the clay courts in Hamburg and Gstaad.

"My passion is sky high. If the passion doesn't overweigh all the rest, the end is extremely near," said Federer, who won his fifth Cincinnati title in 2012. "You might be doing it for the wrong reasons. But I love what I'm doing."

The fifth seed starts with a bye in the tournament that begins on Monday.

He pronounced himself "fit and mentally motivated" going into an event in which the men's field is headed by Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, and keen to "get back into playing well and getting deep into tournaments."

Federer said he made late entries last month into the pair of European clay events in the hope of forgetting his Wimbledon second-round loss to Sergiy Stakhovsky, and also to try out a new, larger racquet head after 15 years with a smaller model.

The racquet project quickly became an afterthought as back pain kicked in during the Hamburg tournament and contributed to a first-match defeat in the Swiss alpine village of Gstaad.

"I wanted to get over Wimbledon as quickly as possible. I was ready to go in Hamburg and tried to enjoy playing. But I had too many problems in the back and the body, they came up gradually.

"In Gstaad I was not prepared. I played OK, it was not like I couldn't play at all."

But the 17-time Grand Slam winner confessed: "It was frustrating not to be able to play proper tennis.

"I really didn't want to pull out of Montreal (this week) but it gives me more time to prepare here," added Federer, who arrived Stateside on Wednesday.

Federer said he plans to keep using his new racquet and has liked what he has seen in the limited time he has had with it.

"But I couldn't focus on the racquet, so I really don't know how I was feeling the balls. Right now I'm happy with the prototype and plan to keep playing with it here," he said.

sportsndtv.com