In his first tour-level match since his quarterfinal loss in the US Open, world No. 2 Roger Federer defeated Diego Schwartzman, 7-6(4), 6-4, Wednesday in his opening match at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Federer struggled to find his rhythm early in the match, forcing him to attack the net where he won 14 of 24 net points en route to victory. Federer improved to 4-0 against Schwartzman in his career and notched his 40th match win of the season. Federer is trying to remain in contention in the battle for the year-end No. 1 with Rafael Nadal, who leads the Swiss star by more than 2,000 points.Federer will next face Alexander Dolgopolov, a three-set winner over Feliciano Lopez.
Despite the loss, Schwartzman is enjoying the best season so far in his career. He climbed to No. 26 in the ATP Rankings and recently made it to the semifinal of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 in Tokyo.
Nadal downs Jared Donaldson
Nadal extended his winning streak to 13 matches following an easy straight-set win over Jared Donaldson to reach the third round of the tournament. In the third round, Nadal will face Fabio Fognini. The Spaniard has a 9-3 record against Fognini, winning their two meetings in 2017 in Miami and Madrid. The win boosted Nadal’s bid to become the year-end No. 1 for the fourth time in his career. He previously did it in 2008, 2010 and 2013. This season, Nadal has tallied a 62-9 record and won a tour-leading six titles.
The 31-year-old Nadal has already booked a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be played The O2 in London from November 12 to 19.
Dimitrov beats Harrison in three sets
Grigor Dimitrov saved three match points en route to a tough 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) triumph over Ryan Harrison. Dimitrov recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the final set and a 3-6 hole in the tie-break to beat Harrison in two hours and 34 minutes.
With the win, Dimitrov strengthened his bid for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals and helped him reach the third round of the Shanghai event for the first time in his career. Currently, Dimitrov is in fifth spot in the ATP Race To London with 3,365 points, trailing fourth placer Dominic Thiem by 350 points. Next up for Dimitrov is Sam Querrey, a straight-set winner over Frances Tiafoe.
In other matches, Gilles Simon defeated David Goffin, 7-6(4), 6-3 while third seed Alexander Zverev advanced after Aljaz Bedene retired after four games. Zverev will next face 16th seed seed Juan Martin del Potro.