Roger Federer avoided déjà vu of his opening result in Rome last year (l. to Chardy) by defeating Pablo Cuevas 7-6(3), 6-4 in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday.
The second seed began his bid for a first title in Rome by firing eight aces and facing no break points to defeat the World No. 24 in a rematch of their Istanbul final. Federer will face No. 15 seed Kevin Anderson in the third round.
Since beating the Uruguayan to hoist the trophy at the inaugural ATP World Tour 250-level event in the Turkish city, Federer suffered an early exit in Madrid, losing in the second round to Nick Kyrgios.
Rome is one of the two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles still missing from Federer’s extensive collection (also Monte-Carlo). The Swiss has reached the final here three times, 2003 (l.to Mantilla), 2006 (l. to Nadal) and 2013 (l. to Nadal).
Viktor Troicki needed two hours and 14 minutes to knock out No. 11 seed Feliciano Lopez 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3. The Serb fired 16 aces and saved six of seven break points faced to advance to the third round, where he will face fifth seed Kei Nishikori.
David Goffin prevailed over No. 13 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, saving three match points to win 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 31 minutes. The Belgian will next face Andy Murray in the third round.
atpworldtour.com
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