‘Stubborn’ Roger Federer advances to third round of 2015 US Open

Roger Federer advanced to the third round of the 2015 U.S. Open with a straight sets victory, 6-1 6-2 6-1, over Steve Darcis of Belgium on Thursday. Despite being one of the most successful players in the history of the sport, Federer admitted that he sees the need to be stubborn and adapt to the changes both in practice and actual matches for him to remain competitive at his stage of his career.

“You need that stubbornness to succeed. Also I think the idea of change is really important because otherwise it can become a bit boring to some extent,” Federer said via the tournament’s official website. “I think you need to challenge yourself and try out new things, maybe where you practice, how you practice, who you practice with, the advice you receive sometimes, equipment, you name it, maybe a grip, maybe a string, maybe racquet technology. Everything keeps evolving and changing.”

In the second round win, Federer finished off his opponent in just an hour and 18 minutes as the Swiss Maestro dominated with 46 winners and 11 aces. Federer also broke Darcis’ serve in 7 of 19 break opportunities while not allowing him to break his serve in the entire match.

Federer, who is seeded second in this tournament, moved on to the next round where he will face Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, a 7-6 (4) 6-2 6-2 winner over Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic, in his second round match. The Swiss Maestro has won an all-time high record 17 Grand Slam titles in his career, five of which came from the U.S. Open.

Other top-ranked players who won on Thursday were fifth seed Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) over Hyeon Chung (Korea), 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4) 7-6 (6); third seed Andy Murray (Great Britain) over Adrian Mannarino (France), 5-7 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-1; and sixth seed Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) over Jurgen Melzer (Austria), 7-6 (2) 6-1 6-3.