Roger Federer made the perfect start to his defence of Cincinnati Masters with a comfortable 6-3 7-6 (9/7) second-round win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Federer dominated the first set but despite creating chance after chance, managed just the one break on the Kohlschreiber serve to take it 6-3.
The German put up more of a fight in the second set and managed an early break, but Federer fought back to take the set and match courtesy of a tie break.
The Swiss ace will be relieved to get the win under his belt after missing last week’s tournament in Montreal with a back injury and is on course to meet Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
The match was also Federer’s first on a hard court since March and he needs the practice as he gets in shape for the US Open later this month.
Federer also revealed after the win that he has gone back to using his old racquet, after testing a larger one during recent clay court tournaments, and will continue to do so until after Flushing Meadows.
“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.
“I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best.”
Meanwhile, third seed David Ferrer is also through to the next round but was made to fight by American wildcard Ryan Harrison before winning 7-6 (7/5) 3-6 6-4.
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