Roger Federer Extends Grass-Court Winning Streak to 17 with Opening Round Win at Halle
(June 19, 2018) Roger Federer opened his defense of his Halle title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday. Between last year’s wins at the Gerry Weber Open, Wimbledon and again this year at the Gerry Weber Open, Federer’s win streak on grass is now up to 17 as he goes for a tenth title at Halle. Federer is just five wins away from equaling Jimmy Connors’ all-time record of 174 victories on grass.
The Swiss, back up to No. 1 this week, is coming off his 18th grass-court tournament title in Stuttgart, after being of the tennis tour for 11 weeks.
His main rival at this event, No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev fell to Borna Coric 6-1, 6-4. Zverev is still suffering the effects from a hamstring injury, he suffered a Roland Garros.
“At first I was afraid that I couldn’t play at all in Halle or Wimbledon,” Zverev said after the match to media.
Another upset on the day was Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece beating fifth-seeded Lucas Pouille 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Others advancing to the second round included Philipp Kohlschreiber, Andreas Seppi, Florian Mayer, Matthew Ebden, Karen Khachanov and Benoit Paire.
