The 20-times Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who is stuck at 99 titles October, kicked off his run for the 100th ATP title with win over Philipp Kohlschreiber in opener round of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.

**advertisement**

Interestingly, Federer’s 35-year-old contender on Monday was a practice partner a couple of days ago before the tournament, and Roger had kept his domination in their 13 meetings, having dropped just three sets. In the arena for the first time since his defeat against Stefanos Tsitsipas at last month’s Australian Open, Federer overcame a blip midway in his match and that was it for the start of rallying the German and beat him with a touch score.

With 99 on and 1 more to go to 100, the superstar Swiss second seed at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2019 opened the tour with a battling 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the first round of the tournament against Germany’s Kohlschreiber. Having cleared the first round, Federer’s task in the tournament became a bit easier with seventh seed Milos Raonic and fourth seed Karen Khachanov, both in the same half of the draw – suffering from opening round exits. Federer will now face Fernando Verdasco, who has just got past Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 3-6 6-3 6-2 and will play the second round.

**advertisement**

The post Roger Federer Runs for 100th title appeared first on News on Screen.