Tennis: Roger Federer opens with win over Peter Gojowczyk, Petra Kvitova ousts Serena Williams

Roger Federer of Switzerland in action against Peter Gojowczyk of Germany during their match at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on Aug 14, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

CINCINNATI (AFP) - Roger Federer began his US Open preparation with a quick 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Peter Gojowczyk in his first ATP Cincinnati Masters appearance since 2015.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who turned 37 last week, is pacing his tennis year, playing a limited schedule and skipping events when he feels the need to rest.

He has missed the last two editions of this tournament because of injury.

Eighth seeded Petra Kvitova used her precision serve to overpower Serena Williams 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in their second round match on Tuesday night (Aug 14).

Federer's defeat of the 47th-ranked German in 72 minutes marked his first step towards a possible eighth title at the tournament.

"I felt good in that first match, to be honest, walking out, hardly any nerves. I think I knew what I had to do," Federer said.

"It's fast-court tennis. I knew my opponent was going to go for it and take big cuts at the ball. So there is only so much you can really do.

"It's nice to have played a match so that my last match was not the Anderson match... you've kind of turned the page. It's a good thing.

"The goal is now to recover from this match, take the positives with me. Of course the big goal is the US Open."

The contest was the first for the Swiss since losing to Kevin Anderson in five sets in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on July 11.

In the women's draw, the second set of the Kvitova-Williams contest was significant for Williams because it was her first set win this season against a top 10 opponent.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion won her first round match over Daria Gavrilova in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, on Monday, but appeared to run out of gas in the third set against Kvitova.

Just two weeks ago, Williams suffered the worst defeat of her career in San Jose when she was crushed 6-1, 6-0 in 51 minutes by world No. 39 Johanna Konta.

"I'm still at the very beginning. You know, this is a long comeback. I just began. Definitely at the very, very beginning," Williams said.

"I'm getting there, and I'm going to just continue to work hard, and hopefully I'll start winning more matches."

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.