Written 1 year ago by Will O'Callaghan

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Roger Federer has joined Ivan Lendl in second place in the Open-era list for career match wins by defeating Taylor Fritz in his opening match of the new grasscourt season.

Federer was made to fight hard for his victory, eventually prevailing 6-4 5-7 6-4 against the American teenager at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

The success was the 1,071st of Federer’s career at main-tour level, equalling Lendl’s mark.

Only Jimmy Connors, who won 1,253 matches during his career, now sits ahead of Federer on the list.

The Swiss great was playing for the first time since a back injury forced him to skip the French Open – the first Grand Slam tournament he had missed since 1999.

But the low-bouncing grasscourts did not appear to trouble him unduly, although his opponent did.

Fritz, one of the rising stars of the ATP World Tour, forced nine break points on Federer’s serve but was only able to convert one of them – at the end of the second set.

Two more came at 15-40 when he led 3-2 in the decider but Federer dug deep to hold onto his serve and eventually made a breakthrough of his own.

In an injury-disrupted season, Federer has targeted success on grass with Wimbledon widely regarded as his best chance of adding to his tally of 17 Grand Slam titles.

That is the reason why he is playing in Stuttgart for the first time since it switched to a grasscourt event. He is also due to play next week in Halle.

Federer will face German qualifier Florian Mayer in the quarter-finals tomorrow.

Image – Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images Europe

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