Federer survives scare to beat Krajinovic in Basel opener

Roger Federer had to shake off some rust, but the eight-time champion eventually rediscovered his “Basel” gear and leaned on the home crowd to advance 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on Tuesday against Serbian Filip Krajinovic.

The 37-year-old Swiss won his 16^th consecutive match at the Swiss Indoors Basel, since losing the 2013 final to Juan Martin del Potro. Federer is trying to reach his 14^th hometown final and capture career title No. 99.

“It was a bit more of a hard-fought victory, but they feel good too, especially knowing that I have the day off tomorrow, so it's no problem having played three sets today,” Federer said.

The World No. 3 wasn't his usual self throughout the match, and especially at the start. Federer shanked forehands and missed whenever he stepped into the court in the beginning. The top seed faced two break points, at 15/40, 1-2, but saved both and broke immediately after, slapping a second-serve return for the first break of the match.

From 1-2 down, Federer won the next seven games against the 2017 Paris Masters finalist. But Krajinovic relaxed in the second and broke Federer, who struggled to find his forehand all match (23 unforced errors), in the eighth and 10th games to take the second.

Behind the red-and-white clad home crowd, however, Federer upped his first-serve percentage and advanced, despite being broken while first serving for the match at 5-3. The Swiss landed only 47 per cent of his first serves.

Federer struggled to find his usual precision, racking up 38 unforced errors, he also had six double faults and hit 10 aces.

“I didn't serve very well today. I think I was misfiring the corners, I was not hitting the lines enough. Clearly you make your life more difficult, but still I was up 6-2, 3-1, break points, so things could have ended very quickly today, even though I didn't have the best serve percentage stats. But maybe that's exactly what caught up to me eventually,” Federer said.

“It's just getting used to it. This is where the first rounds can be tricky.”

He will next meet German Jan-Lennard Struff, who beat Aussie John Millman 7-6 (3), 6-2. Federer has won all three of their ATP Head to Head meetings, including two earlier this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Date: 24 October 2018, Source: ATP