Swiss ace and former world number 1, Roger Federer started off with his Shanghai Masters’ journey by winning the doubles.
Swiss ace and former world number 1, Roger Federer started off with his Shanghai Masters’ journey by winning the doubles. Yes, it’s true that the wildcard team of Roger Federer and Chinese Zhang Ze needed just 48 minutes to beat Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters men’s doubles event.
Roger Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion praised his Chinese partner and said that in a way it was a good sign for Chinese tennis. He said, “That’s kind of the ultimate goal, to partner up with a Chinese upcoming player and promote the game at the same time. I’m just so happy for Zhang Ze. He played really well. I really am, because he couldn’t have played any better.”
The Swiss/Chinese pairing saved the only break point they faced, and won 91 percent of first serve points. Federer and Zhang face off against fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the second round.
With inputs from IANS
