Federer wins in Basel
World tennis number two Roger Federer has won his opening match at this year’s Swiss Indoors tournament in his hometown of Basel.
Federer was leading Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 5-2 when the Ukrainian, ranked 48 in the world, retired with an injured ankle.
The Swiss, who will meet Serb Janko Tipsarevic or Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the second round on Wednesday, won the tournament for three straight years before he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in last year’s final.
Federer had been hoping his second-round match would be on Thursday so he could watch Wednesday’s Champions League football match between FC Basel and Roma just around the corner, but the television schedule put an end to that plan.
“I now hope to win quickly so I can see a bit of the game,” he said.
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