Federer and Dimitrov Win Istanbul Openers
Roger Federer recorded his 200th career victory on clay Wednesday, knocking off Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 7-5 to reach the Istanbul Open third-round.
It is the first time Federer has played at the Istanbul Open, and was the first match he ever played in the country of Turkey.
“I’m happy that I won my first match ever in Turkey,” said Federer. “In the second set, Jarkko started playing better and I’m happy that I managed to close the match.”
The Swiss was dominant on serve, surrendering no break point chances and winning 82 percent of points on his serve. He also picked up three break points, including one late in the second set, to move past the Fin.
Federer becomes the seventh active player to nail down 200 wins on clay.
In the third round, he will take on Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who defeated the sixth-seeded Mikhail Kukushkin on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the third-round as well, defeating Andrey Golubev, 6-3, 6-2. The Bulgarian didn’t face a break point and picked up three of his own to move past Golubev in straight sets.
“It was a good match today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Dimitrov. “I played a solid, structured game and it was enough for me to win today.”
Dimitrov will next take on the winner of the match between Ivan Dodig and Dusan Lajovic.
Third-seeded Pablo Cuevas and fourth-seeded Santiago Giraldo also made their way into the third-round.
Giraldo will take on eighth-seeded Diego Schwartzman, while Cuevas will play Thomaz Bellucci.
