Roger Federer seems to have gotten back to his best after a disappointing first round exit at the Mercedes Cup against Tommy Haas. The Swiss tennis star is currently playing at the Gerry Weber Open as he prepares himself for Wimbledon and is set to take on Mischa Zverev next after he defeated Yuchi Sugita in his opening match.
With that win over Sugita, Federer also added another feather to his already illustrious career as he celebrated his 1,100th win. The Swiss is currently second on the list for the most number of wins and 156 wins behind Jimmy Connors.
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Federer will look to win his ninth title at the Halle Open this year in the run-up to the Wimbledon.
"It was mentioned in Stuttgart but I had forgotten about it. I appreciate these numbers way more today than ever before. 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," ATP's official website quoted Federer as saying.
"I played some good tennis, some nice points. I played the way I wanted to play: aggressive, took charge from the baseline and served well. Overall, I'm very happy."
As for Federer's opponent, Mischa has not had the best of seasons this year so far as he has struggled to get past the second round in most tournaments. But leading up to the Halle Open, the German did put in a good show at the Mercedes Cup where he reached the Semi-finals. He also reached the finals of the Geneva Open earlier this year.
The German also put in an outstanding performance at the Australian Open where he managed to reach the quarter-finals and defeated Andy Murray on the way. But he ended up losing to the eventual champion Federer.
Including their meeting at the Australian Open earlier this year, the two have met only three times in total and Federer has won all including a dominating 6-0, 6-0 win at the Halle Open in 2013.
Mischa will hope to avoid another humiliating defeat this time around and the elder of the two Zverev brother has certainly improved since 2013. But given the experience gap between the two players and the fact he has not defeated Federer on any surface, the Swiss will be expected to make it to the next round.
Where to watch
The Gerry Weber Open match between Roger Federer and Mischa Zverev is set to start at around 5:30 pm local time 9 pm IST and 4:30 pm BST.
TV and live streaming information
India: TV: Sony ESPN. Live streaming: Sony Liv
USA: TV: Fox Sports, Tennis channel. Live streaming: Tennis channel
Canada: TV: RDS, TSN
South Africa: TV: Super Sport. Live streaming: Super Sport live streaming
International live streaming: ATP official website (Subscription needed)
