US Open | Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal cruise to the next round; Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna advance in respective events

09/03/2017

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal secured comfortable wins in the third round of the US Open as they overcame Feliciano Lopez and Leonardo Mayer respectively to reach the fourth round. Indian stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the second round after wins in their respective doubles events.

Following some grueling games against Frances Tiafoe and Mikhail Youzhny in the previous two rounds, where Federer had to play five sets to emerge victorious eventually, his ‘title favourite’ mantle had shaken a bit. The Swiss ace had arrived at the Flushing Meadows at the back of rumors claiming that he was to withdraw from the Grand Slam with a back injury.

However, the 35-year-old buried it all with a classy 6-3 6-3 7-5 win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. After a flying start to the first round, the World No. 35 did put some pressure on Federer snatching a couple of breaks to establish a two-love lead after an hour. But the 19-time Grand Slam champion’s concentration lapse was short, as he came back soon and finished things off.

Federer will face Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber next, whom he has previously beaten 11 times in a row. All those prophecies of US Open seeing a semi-final between Federer and Rafael Nadal might be happening after all, as Federer’s nemesis shows no signs of backing down.

Although the top seed didn’t have a straightforward win against Argentina's Leonardo Mayer in the round of 32, he looked fully in control. Losing the first set, Nadal came back to the game 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-1 6-4 in a tiring three hours and 16 minutes match. He wasted 13 break points before eventually discouraging the World number 59. Nadal will face Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov next.

Argentina’s Del Potro, yet another favourite to the title, went past Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in a simple 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 game, setting up a crunch clash with Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the next round. In another game, Italy’s Fabio Fognini was ostracized from the tournament after he verbally accused at a female umpire during his game against compatriot Stefano Travaglia.

It was a good day in the office for Indians at the US open as both Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna progressed to the next round in their respective doubles matches. Paired with China’s Peng Shuai, The Indo-Chinese duo overcame the Slovakian team of Jana Cepelova and Magdalena Rybarikova in a convincing 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 win. They play the Romanian-Spanish duo of Sorana Cirstea and Sara Sorribes Tormo in the next round.

Partnered with Canada’s partner Gabriela Dabrowski, Rohan Bopanna was playing in the first round of the mixed doubles event as they defeated the English-Finnish duo of Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen 6-4, 4-6, 13-11. They will face Spanish-American duo of María Jose Martinez Sanchez and Nicholas Monroe next.

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