Globallookpress Paul Zimmer via www.imago-images
Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer returned to the yellow ball competition after an absence of nearly a year due to his undergoing two knee surgeries, and scored his first victory in the Qatar Championship against Britain’s Daniel Evans.
Federer, 39, ranked sixth in the world, decided the match in his favor with two groups to one group, by 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 within two and a half hours.
Federer will face in the next round the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who earlier today easily overtook the Tunisian Malik Jaziri, who won the invitation card in two clean groups 6-2 and 6-2.
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The Swiss, who won the title of 20 major championships, a record he shares with Spanish star Rafael Nadal, did not show any sign of physical weakness in front of his opponent, and was well received by the audience of 20% of the capacity of the Khalifa Tennis Complex.
Federer was exempted from participating in the first round of the tournament that was crowned three times in 2005, 2006 and 2011, because he is ranked second in this year’s edition.
As a result of undergoing two knee surgeries, coinciding with the stoppage of competitions last year for many months due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, Federer has not played any match since losing in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to first-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic in January 2020.
Source: “AFP”
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