Roger Federer returned in second place on an ATP tour after a 405-day absence caused by two knee surgeries and outscored Brit Daniel Evans 7-6 (8), 3-6, 7 -5 Wednesday in the second round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha.
Federer recorded 13 aces in his first game since he first underwent surgery on his right knee in February 2020, shortly after playing in the 2020 Australian Open. The 39-year-old Swiss said after the game nearly 2 1/2 hours it has not been an easy way back to court.
“It’s been a long and difficult road for me. I did, however, enjoyed it, ”said Federer, the next 20-time Grand Slam champion. “It’s been a big challenge for me in my tennis course, and coming back at my age is not that simple.”
Federer will face Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who defeated Malek Jaziri 6-2, 6-2 in Tunisia.
Dominic Thiem came from Austria with the highest seed with a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 win over Aslan Karatsev in Russia. Other winning seed players included Andrey Rublev (No. 3) of Russia, Denis Shapovalov (No. 4) of Canada and Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain (No. 5). American Taylor Fritz thrashed Belgian sixth seed David Goffin 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (9).
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Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune of Denmark converted 82.4 percent of his first-serve points while rolling to a 6-2, 6-3 second-seed French lead Benoit Paire at Santiago, Chile.
The 1710th-year-old Rune, who was 410th in the world, had little trouble getting the better of him in 61 minutes.
Frances Tiafoe was a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) American fifth-seeded American Facundo Bagnis. Laslo Djere gathered from the fourth seed of Serbia for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Pedro Sousa of Portugal and Federico Delbonis of the eighth seed of Argentina a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Andrej Martin from Slovakia.
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Russia third-seeded Karen Khachanov pitched up six assists while recording a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over America’s Mackenzie McDonald in a second-round play at Marseille, France.
Ugo Humbert, fourth seed, defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4 in a battle of French while Italian Jannik Sinner in fifth seed won to a 6-4, 6- victory. 1 on French Hugo Gaston.
Unseeded Matthew Ebden of Australia defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in Finland 6-2, 6-2. Egor Gerasimov from Belarus and Cameron Norrie from Britain also won first round matches.
–Field Media Level