Tuesday 19 June 2018 19:23, UK
Roger Federer recorded a convincing victory over Aljaz Bedene in the Halle Open first round as second seed Alexander Zverev was stunned by Borna Coric.
Federer, who has recently returned from injury, defeated fellow Wimbledon hopeful Milos Raonic in the final of the Mercedes Cup last week - his first tournament since losing to Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round of the Miami Open in March.
The world No 1 will be bidding for his ninth Wimbledon crown next month but is first looking to make it back-to-back grass-court titles at the Halle Open after missing out on the entire clay-court season which saw Rafael Nadal claim Roland Garros glory.
Next up for the Swiss is world No 47 Benoit Pair - looking to make it nineteen consecutive wins on grass - but Zverev, the world No 3, will not progress after suffering an embarrassing first-round exit to Croatia's world No 36 Coric 6-1 6-4.
It was Zverev who reached last year's Halle Open final, losing to Federer, and he was widely expected to reach that feat again.
With Wimbledon round the corner, it is a concerning result for the German who was considered a dark horse before this shock result.
It was a different story for Federer, though, who was in a jubilant mood after the match against Bedene.
"I got out of the box well, I felt good right away," he said.
"This is an easier court to play than last week in Stuttgart, the ball bounces up higher into my strike zone. I was connecting well on returns and I could read his serve.
"I played a solid first set once I figured out how to break him. In the second I was able to hold all of my serves."
Slovenia's Bedene, who represented Great Britain between 2015 and 2017, gave a good account of himself but eventually succumbed to the inevitable against a player who has 98 Tour titles to his name.
Elsewhere at the Halle Open, two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet suffered a shock defeat to grass-court specialist Florian Mayer with the latter claiming a 6-2 6-2 win.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, aged just 19-years-old, stunned World No 18 Lucas Pouille 6-2 7-6 (7-3) while Hungarian Marton Fucsovics was eliminated by Philipp Kohlschreiber after retiring through injury.
Australian No 2 Matthew Ebden survived a second-set fightback from Malek Jaziri to prevail 6-0 7-6 (7-2) as Mischa Zverev, the older brother of Alexander, was defeated by Russia's Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
Federer's second-round opponent Paire edged American Steve Johnson 7-5 7-6 (7-5) and Andreas Seppi cruised to a 6-3 7-5 win over fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini.
We have more tennis coverage from the ATP Tour when we head to Germany for the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, live on Sky Sports Arena all this week.
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