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Top-seeded Roger Federer reached a major milestone Tuesday, recording the 1,100th match win of his career at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. The Swiss superstar received little resistance en route to the historic win, needing only 52 minutes to post a 6-3, 6-1 victory over lucky loser Yuichi Sugita of Japan.
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"I appreciate these numbers way more today than ever before," said Federer. "I think I can embrace them more. It's a big number and I'm very happy to have a chance to hopefully add some more wins to that number."
An eight-time winner of this event, the 35-year-old Federer trails only Jimmy Connors (1,256) on the all-time wins list.
Federer was stunned by veteran Tommy Haas in the second round at Stuttgart last week, but he thoroughly dominated Sugita. Federer won 90 percent of his first-serve points and delivered eight aces to zero for his opponent.
Federer faced one break point in the match, did not commit a double fault and won the opening set in only 21 minutes.
"I played some good tennis, some nice points," Federer said. "I played the way I wanted to play: aggressive, took charge from the baseline and served well. Overall, I'm very happy."
Initially scheduled to face Yen-Hsun Lu, who had to withdraw, Federer boosted his record on the season to 20-2. His opponent in the second round will be Germany's Mischa Zverev, 6-4, 6-4 winner over Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko.
Third-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan was among three of the top players in the field who needed three sets to advance, outlasting Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4.
No 6 seed Lucas Pouille of France and seventh-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain also won in three sets over Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff and Argentina's Carlos Berlocq, respectively.
Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, the younger brother of Mischa, had an easier time with a 6-3, 6-2 romp over Italy's Paolo Lorenzi. Zverev will face countryman Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round.
