@SportsHorn
They were lined up around the block outside the grounds of Uniprix Stadium to get a glimpse of Roger Federer making his first visit to Montreal at the Rogers Cup in six years. Unfortunately, some may not have made it into Court Central before his opening match was over.
Federer improved to an astounding 32-2 on the year needing just 54 minutes to get past Canadian Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-1.
In a match reminiscent to when they played their only previous meeting at the Rogers Cup three years ago in Toronto, Federer dominated from the start. He built up an early 3-Love lead and needed just 22 minutes to close out the set. Just six of the 37 rallies lasted longer than five shots.
It was more of the same in the 2nd set. Federer played a couple of nice volleys and finished up with an overhead to break Polansky again in the second game. The World No 3 built up a 4-Love lead before Polansky had his rare moment of the match. A crisp passing shot down the line with Federer at the net which drew a huge cheer from the sold out stadium. However, Federer went on to win that game and closed out the match shortly thereafter.
After the match Federer spoke highly of the atmosphere on Court Central. “Crowd support was great,” said the two-time champion of the tournament. “It wasn’t the closest match today. But they were there for Peter when he needed the crowd and he hit good shots, when they realized he was struggling. I thought that was really nice they were so supportive, they were there from the beginning till the end… Maybe that’s also why I always put this as one of my favorite tournaments, favorite centre courts out there, because they show up in big numbers, they show up with excitement and passion. For us to play, it’s very inspiring.”
Federer now 32-2, is off to his best start to a season since 2006 when he began the year 38-2. He finished with 26 winners won 18 of the 23 points he played at the net and lost just four points on his first serve.
After the match Polansky collected the tennis balls from the final game putting them in his bag for a souvenir of playing arguably the greatest player of all time.
“Ultimately, having that respect between one another of the players, it’s amazing”, said Federer. “I did sign those three tennis balls that he did get. He asked me for his friends. They asked if they could bring back a souvenir.”
