During the match after the second set, I thought it will be like always, I will lose.
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Speaking after the match, Federer said Ramos played well.
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios beat Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3, 6-2; Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic scored a 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory against Jeremy Chardy and Feliciano Lopez topped Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 7-6 (3).
And it was a very different story in the Shanghai second round on Tuesday as Federer struggled to impose himself.
Wearing black at the bottom of the screen, the second seed was put under a lot of pressure in the opening set and couldn’t force a break-through on the Spaniard’s serve, thanks to shots like this one.
It will only be available during the Chinese event, where signature pizzas have been served up for the last five years. He even ended with seven more points overall, but come the pinch-points, his lack of match-sharpness told.
“I played him at Wimbledon before, so I knew him”. The ball’s been moving through the court pretty well. I like these conditions.
South African Kevin Anderson beat Germany’s Tommy Haas 6-3, 7-5.
It was the Spaniard’s first win against a top-10 player in 16 matches.
Tsonga went on to win the opener 6-3 before he was completely untroubled in the second, winning it 6-2 to reach the third round.
Ramos-Vinolas, a quarter-finalist earlier this year in Auckland and Geneva, goes on to challenge Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Victor Estrella Burgos for a place in the quarter-finals.
Despite Ramos’ success as a qualifier, the other qualifiers in play on Tiesday found their stays in Shanghai put to an end.
His fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil is also through after downing Simone Bolelli 6-3,6-4. Pospisil threw down double digit aces with ten and saved all three break points he faced.
Against Leonardo Mayer in 2014, Roger Federer survived numerous match points in his first match at the Shanghai Masters.
Within seconds of the Belgian’s victory, American Jack Sock followed him through and by an identical score-line. At the 2015 Madrid Open, he also lost in straight sets to fellow compatriot David Ferrer 6-4 6-0.
Federer was playing his first match since the US Open loss to Novak Djokovic.
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Rafael Nadal will hope to avoid the same fate when he contests his opener against Ivo Karlovic on Wednesday.
