Roger Federer moved into the second round of his home tournament in Basel when Aleksandr Dolgopolov retired hurt.
Federer moves into round two of home event after injury retirement
Roger Federer moved into the second round of his home tournament in Basel when Aleksandr Dolgopolov retired hurt on the verge of being defeated in straight sets.
World number two Federer was serving for the match at 6-4 5-2 when the Ukrainian ranked 48th in the world ended the match early because he was suffering from an ankle injury.
Federer was in total command of the match at the Swiss Indoors tournament, but in the final game Dolgopolov tumbled onto the hardcourt surface injuring his ankle in the process.
After receiving treatment for a few minutes, Dolgopolov decided he could not complete the match at the St Jakobshalle and hobbled off defeated.
Three-time winner Federer moved on after three breaks and nine aces and he will face either Serb Janko Tipsarevic or Denis Istromin of Uzbekistan in the next round.
Federer won three consecutive editions of this event until last year when he was beaten in the final by Novak Djokovic, who is back again to defend his title as the number two seed.
"For me, it's always one of the nicest parts of the season," Federer said.
"In terms of importance, everybody talks about the slams and everything but in terms of emotions, this is obviously very high up there, if not number one.
"I love this tournament, more than any other almost, and it's always wonderful for me to come back here. I try to get good at not getting an injury before because it's happened twice before."
