Federer and Djokovic through in Cincinnati

Federer held off Jose Acasuso to continue his progress in the Cincinnati Masters.
World number one Roger Federer held off the challenge of Argentine Jose Acasuso to reach the second round of the Cincinnati Masters — where he will be joined by fourth seed Novak Djokovic.

The top-seeded Swiss went through 6-3 7-5 in one hour and 10 minutes to earn a clash with David Ferrer. Acasuso was broken in the eighth game, with Federer then serving out to take the opening set. The 28-year-old French Open and Wimbledon champion broke again in the 11th game of the second set to secure victory. Federer told Sky Sports: “I am very happy to have made the transition from my Montreal defeat.” On Ferrer he added: “He is one of the best return players in the game. I will have to be careful even though I have a good record against him.” Djokovic was first on Centre Court and the fourth seed prevailed in a close contest against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

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The pair were closely matched with Djokovic taking the first set 7-5 on the tie-break before he won the second set 6-4 after crucially converting one of his four break points. Seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the day’s major casualty, going down 7-6 6-2 to qualifier Chris Guccione. Paul-Henri Matthieu edged out Ivo Karlovic who could not reproduce the form which saw him beat Gael Monfils in the previous round. The Frenchman triumphed 7-6 6-4 after taking advantage of his one break of serve.

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