Federer gets past Zverev but downplays chances in Rome

Taking the court for the first time since withdrawing from the Mutua Madrid Open because of a back issue, Roger Federer beat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-5 in round two of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday. Federer dropped serve only once before prevailing in one hour and 27 minutes.

The 34-year-old was unsure he would even play until a warmup session in the morning convinced hime he was good to go. Federer promptly wasted no time showing the fans that he was fit enough to perform, breaking Zverev in the sixth game of the first set for a 4-2 lead. The Swiss, who did not face a break point in the opener, had no problem serving it out the rest of the way.

Although Federer gave back an early second-set break at 2-1, he got back on track by earning another scalp of the Zverev serve at the end of a 5-5 game that saw the world No. 2 capitalize on his fourth break chance. A routine hold at 6-5 wrapped up the proceedings.

“It’s great for me to be back on any tennis court right now, to be honest,” Federer admitted. “It’s been a rough week since the back problems in Madrid and a rough year overall, so it’s already a good sign to be back on a match court–let alone winning is awesome. I’m really pleased; I didn’t expect myself to win today. Expectations are super-low. I’m very far from being 100 percent fit, but I came out of [the match] actually feeling alright.”

Nonetheless, the  third seed still insists that he has no chance of capturing his first-ever title in Rome and he will not even guarantee that he can play again on Thursday. He called playing against Zverev “a calculated risk,” adding, “I am going practice by practice right now–stopping every 15 minutes to talk with the team. (I) hope I’ll play.”

If he does play, a second career meeting with Dominic Thiem will be in the cards for Thursday.

Federer hot shot:

Zverev hugs a linesman:

Interview:

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