Roger Federer eased to a 6-4 6-4 win over Peter Gojowzcyk in the second round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Federer, back on court after his quarter-final defeat at Wimbledon, appeared nervy in his opening service game, Gojowzcyk failing to convert two break points, but the number-two seed soon found his rhythm to serve out the set.
The 37-year-old’s confidence grew from there, serving out to love at 4-2 in the second set and again in the final game, needing just one match point to seal the victory in 72 minutes.
Meanwhile, Kyle Edmund suffered a straight-sets defeat to Denis Shapovalov, losing 6-4 7-5 and ending Britain’s hopes in the tournament.
Earlier in the second round, 16th seed Lucas Pouille – who had knocked out Andy Murray – lost 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.
Number 15 seed Nick Kyrgios overcame a knee problem in his first-round match against American Denis Kudla as the Australian, having initially forgotten to take his trainers on court, battled through 6-7 (2/7) 7-5 7-6 (11/9) in just over two hours.
There was, though, no such problems for David Goffin. The 11th-seeded Belgian recorded a 7-5 6-3 win over Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had produced such a memorable run to the final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Dominic Thiem, the eighth seed, withdrew with illness and was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Elsewhere, there were also first-round wins for Canada’s Milos Raonic, Dutchman Robin Haase and veteran German Mischa Zverev.
American Jack Sock, though, saw his hopes ended by a 2-6 6-1 6-2 defeat against Hyeon Chung of South Korea.
