Shanghai Masters: Federer cruises, Murray stumbles

Roger Federer eased past Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2 7-6(5) to reach the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday, avenging a defeat to the Spaniard in their last meeting at the same stage of the tournament in 2015.

Second seed Federer, who received a first-round bye, broke Ramos-Vinolas twice in the opening set and sailed through his service games without facing a break point in the match.

Also advancing to the third round in Shanghai were third seed Daniil Medvedev — who dropped just four games against qualifier Cameron Norrie — and 15th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who stopped Benoit Paire in three sets.

Ramos-Vinolas, who upset Federer four years ago to snap a 15-match losing streak against top-10 players, recovered well to force a second-set tiebreak but his Swiss opponent came back from 4-1 down to seal victory.

“I focused, because when you travel around the globe, you’re missing a bit of energy. Those first few games or matches can be sometimes a bit tricky,” Federer said.

“Serve was solid. I was hitting my spots and really was never in trouble there. But of course all of a sudden, being in a breaker, calls out for different play sometimes and different momentum.

“He had his chances, but it was a nice comeback for me, and overall.”

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Federer, a twice Shanghai champion, will next meet Belgium’s David Goffin or Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin for a place in the quarterfinals.

Former world No.1 Andy Murray showed some more positive signs in his injury comeback but eventually went down in a bruising battle with Italy’s Fabio Fognini.

Murray v Fognini was… spicy ????#RolexSHMasters pic.twitter.com/HNlpsDoaCF

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 8, 2019

Murray twice served for the match in the deciding set, but Fognini dug deep to force a tiebreak and secure a 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(2) win in just over three hours.

“There is a lot of things that I need to get better at, and I can do much better,” said Murray, who underwent a career-saving hip resurfacing procedure in January.

“I will go away and I’ll work on those things and be in a better position next time I play against him.”