New York: Roger Federer equaled Andre Agassi for the second-most Grand Slam wins in the Open era by defeating Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday in the first round of the US Open.
The third-seeded Federer, a 16-time Major champion, now has 224 Grand Slam wins, nine behind Jimmy Connors.
In the day's last match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Federer showed a few signs of rust against the 54th-ranked Giraldo of Colombia, losing his serve three times, but this one was never in doubt. He improved to 12-0 in first-round matches at Flushing Meadows and 57 wins from 63 matches overall.
"It doesn't need to be pretty. I don't think I've ever played my very, very best in the first round. It's always nice to be winning matches," said the Swiss, who now trails only Connors' career total of 233.
Federer, who turned 30 on August 8, is trying to win at least one Major tournament for the ninth straight year and become the first 30-something man to win a Grand Slam title since Agassi won the 2003 Australian Open.
Early winners on the opening day included No. 7 Gael Monfils of France; No. 8 Mardy Fish of the United States, who beat Tobias Kamke of Germany 6-2, 6-2, 6-1; No. 9 Tomas Berdych of Germany, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up; No. 13 Richard Gasquet of France; No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine; and No. 27 Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Comments
0 comment