Federer cruises past Ramos-Vinolas in Shanghai

Roger Federer eased past Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 7-6 (5) to reach the last-16 of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday, avenging a defeat to the Spaniard in their last meeting at the same stage of the tournament in 2015.

Second seed Federer, who received a first-round bye, broke Ramos-Vinolas twice in the opening set and sailed through his service games without facing a break point in the match.

Ramos-Vinolas, who upset Federer four years ago to snap a 15-match losing streak against top-10 players, recovered well to force a second-set tiebreak but his Swiss opponent came back from 4-1 down to seal victory.

“Had a really good first set. I focused and had good energy, because when you travel around the globe, you're missing a bit of energy. Those first few games or matches can be sometimes a bit tricky. So I thought that went very well for me,” Federer said.

“Serve was solid. I was hitting my spots and really was never in trouble there. But of course all of a sudden, being in a breaker, calls out for different play sometimes and different momentum. He had his chances, but it was a nice comeback for me, and overall, I was very happy.”

Federer will next meet Belgian David Goffin or Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin for a place in the quarter-finals. The 13th-seeded Goffin beat France's Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-3, and Kukushkin knocked out Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday.

Goffin upset Federer in similarly quick conditions during the 2017 ATP Finals semi-finals, although Federer leads their ATP Head to Head series 9-1. The 38-year-old is going for his third Shanghai title (2014, 2017) and 29^th Masters 1000 crown. He has already guaranteed his place at the season-ending ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

Date: 8 October 2019, Source: Reuters and ATP