Federer-Zhang win doubles opener at Shanghai Masters

Beijing, Oct 8 (IANS) The wildcard team of Roger Federer and Zhang Ze needed just 48 minutes to beat Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters men’s doubles event Monday.

The Swiss/Chinese pairing saved the only break point they faced, and won 91 percent of first serve points, Xinhua reported.

Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam champion, said his partnership with Zhang was good for tennis in China. “That’s kind of the ultimate goal, to partner up with a Chinese upcoming player and promote the game at the same time.”

“I’m just so happy for Zhang Ze. He played really well. I really am, because he couldn’t have played any better.”

The Swiss No. 1 said he hoped to see more players from the Asian continent break through.

“We had Paradorn Srichaphan, we have Kei Nishikori from Japan. Hopefully we’ll have more and more players coming up,” said Federer.

“By having such a great tournament and all the top players coming here to Shanghai, I think that’s only going to help it. I think we all really want something to happen in a big way in the next 10, 20 years here.”

Federer and Zhang face off against fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the second round.