Roger Federer can guarantee he extends his reign at No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings to 300 weeks by winning his third-round match Thursday, October 11 against countryman Stanislas Wawrinka at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, ATPWorldTour.com reported.
“I'm obviously excited,” said the top-seeded Swiss. “It's a big number, even though 299 or 300 doesn't make a big difference for me. It's obviously a big match for me. If you look back, there's many matches there was a lot on the line, so this is just another one. Obviously it's not a final, so I'm not going to go in super nervous about it. It's just more the difficulty also playing a good friend. That adds to the special occasion tomorrow.”
Federer made a strong start in his first Shanghai appearance since a runner-up finish to Andy Murray in 2010, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 7-5 in 80 minutes. Normally the fan favourite, he admitted he was a bit “caught off guard” that his opponent received more support in this particular match.
