Roger Federer brushes aside Yen-Hsun Lu to reach the third round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012
Reigning world number one, Roger Federer, displayed yet another top notch performance in the second round battle of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday night. He blew away the bleak resistance from the Taiwanese veteran, Yen-Hsun Lu, in straight sets, 6-3 7-5, taking one hour and 20 minutes to reach the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, China.
31-year-old Swiss Maestro was belligerent as ever throughout the contest and didn’t give any chance to the 62nd ranked opponent to get settled. He took the reins of the momentum right from the beginning and remained in command until the end. Although Lu showed some spark towards the end of the second set, he was too bleak to face the class of the 17-time Grand Slam winner. The 29-year-old earlier played on Federer in the opening round of Wimbledon Championships 2009, suffering a straight sets defeat, 5-7, 3-6, 2-6. His luck didn’t favour him on Wednesday either and Federer imposed a 2-0 lead over him in the head-to-head series.
The top seed Swiss had a below par serve precision of 54 percent but he dropped merely two points on it, winning 28 out of 30 to get the better of his opponent in the match. He crafted a total of five break opportunities but only two conversions, one in each set, roved sufficient for him to dispose of Lu. On the other hand, the Taiwanese veteran frittered his lone break chance in the second set of the match to finish on the losing side in the end.
Being the top-seeded contestant in the tournament draw, Federer received a bye in the opening round and it was his first match of the Shanghai Masters. His impactful beginning shows his clear intend of bagging this coveted Masters 1000 trophy. The Serbian juggernaut, Novak Djokovic, is right behind the Swiss Maestro in the ATP World Rankings list and has come Shanghai to snatch the number one spot from the Swiss Maestro. Federer needs to win this tournament in order to sustain his world number one rank. He will face his fellow compatriot and doubles partner, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the third round later this week.
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