TORONTO, Canada: Two-time champion Roger Federer turned on the style but Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka had to work much harder to advance yesterday at the ATP Toronto Masters.
Second seed Federer showed no mercy against Canadian Peter Polansky in a 6-2, 6-0 second-round thrashing which took just 52 minutes. Federer converted on six of seven break points as he played for the first time since his Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic.
“I was happy, I started well, and that’s always helpful to play more freely,” said the winner of his 41st match this season. “I could have served better at times, but I felt I was moving well.
“For the start of a tournament it’s never clear if that’s going to be the case. I’m very relieved and just really pleased.”
It was much more difficult for Australian Open winner Wawrinka, who battled to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Frenchman Benoit Paire.
The Swiss saved a match point in the tenth game of the final set and finally advanced with a running volley winner on the first of four match points.
Wawrinka took time away from the game after Wimbledon, skipping the ATP Tour’s Gstaad tournament at home due to fatigue.
Federer is playing Canada for the first time since 2011 after winning titles in 2004 and 2006. He is in the hunt for an 80th career trophy.
Meanwhile, Britain’s 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray made light of an absence from the ATP tour of over a month to defeat promising Aussie teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-2 in less than an hour in the second-round of the Toronto Masters.
Murray, the eighth seed who won the Canadian title in 2009 and 2010, had been seen as a poential scalp for the dangerous Kyrgios since losing to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
In the interim, the disappointed 27-year-old Scot left for his training base in Miami to try and rediscover his best form.
He also signed former top French woman player Amelie Mauresmo to a long-term coaching contract after an experimental period through the grass season.
“I was just lacking a little bit. But after Wimbledon, I went over to Miami and I really trained like I used to for the first time since the surgery and I felt much better,” said Murray.
Murray showed in Toronto that his work was starting to pay off, as he hammered Kyrgios, who upset Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I thought I did most things like pretty solid,” said Murray.
“I didn’t make too many errors. I moved well, I had a high first serve percentage.
“It was solid for a first match back after sort of four and a half, five weeks. I was happy.”
Murray, who has not won a title in the 13 months since lifting the Wimbledon trophy, will next face the winner of the match between Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.
AFP
