Switzerland’s Roger Federer hits a return during his single’s match against compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the Shanghai Masters tournament in Shanghai, yesterday.
Shanghai: Roger Federer survived a huge scare yesterday to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals and guarantee a record 300th week as world number one as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray showed ominous form.
The Swiss 17-time Grand Slam champion came into the match against compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka with an enviable 11-1 head-to-head record but struggled to impose himself and was forced to dig deep before winning 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0.
In a gripping contest lasting nearly two hours, Wawrinka missed a golden chance when he failed to make the most of a break point opportunity at 4-4 in the second set that, if taken, would have left him serving for the match.
Federer, surrounded this week by black-clad security heavies after a bizarre pre-tournament death threat, said reaching the jaw-dropping 300-week mark, which he will hit when the new rankings are out on Monday, was an “incredible milestone”.
“So here I am at 300 weeks. It’s pretty incredible. Probably one of my biggest accomplishments. I’m very proud of that record, no doubt about it.”
“It’s a great reward for me,” added Federer, who returned to the number one spot following this year’s Wimbledon triumph.
The previous record was held by American Pete Sampras, who spent a total of 286 weeks as world number one.
Earlier, Serbian second seed Djokovic, looking to wrestle the world number one ranking from Federer, barely broke sweat against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, wrapping up a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 victory in front of enthusiastic fans. In-form Djokovic, fresh from his third China Open title in Beijing on Sunday, struck 12 aces and took advantage of some below-par serving by the left-handed Lopez, breaking him three times. Defending champion Murray, 25, proved far too strong for Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, serving consistently well and seizing on five out of six break point opportunities to win 6-2, 6-2 in just 57 minutes.
It was the first match of the tournament for the Scot, who had a walkover into the third round. The top eight seeds received a first round bye.
Fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) and will next play Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych, who fended off a barrage of 17 aces from American Sam Querrey to win 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4.
Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic upset eighth seed John Isner of the United States and will play Murray while 10th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco to set up a clash with Federer. AFP
