ISTANBUL — Top-ranked Serena Williams breezed past Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1 to open her bid for a fourth ATP Championships title Tuesday. Serena, the defending champion, had no trouble against Kerber, who was one of the few players to beat her in 2012, in Cincinnati. Although she is 32, considered a ripe age in tennis, Serena is enjoying the finest season in her career, having already won 10 titles. She added the French Open and US Open titles to bring her Grand Slam record to 17 championships and is 74- for the year. Earlier, second-ranked Victoria Azarenka overcame an erratic performance to beat an ailing Sara Errani 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the opening match. Errani hurt her right calf in the third game of the second set and took a medical timeout to have it treated. Istomin to meet Federer In Switzerland, Uzbek Denis Istomin Tuesday booked a second round meeting with former world No. 1 Roger Federer at the Swiss Indoors in Basel as he beat Argentinian Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 7-6 (7-3). Federer is battling to reach the eight-man year-end finals in London in early November, with every win this week and next in Paris crucial to him appearing in a tournament he has won six times. He began with a victory in front of his home crowd Monday as he beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Stanislas Wawrinka's prospects of playing in his first ATP World Tour Finals were damaged by a 6-4, 6-3 first-round loss to Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori, losing finalist two years ago to Federer, reached the second round 6-2, 6-4 over another 32-year-old Swiss Marco Chiudinelli, a wild card entry and childhood friend of Federer. Nishikori next plays Croatian Ivan Dodig, who advanced in just nine minutes as Argentine Carlos Berlocq retired trailing 2-0. Marcos Baghdatis reached the second round, winning his first match since late September with a defeat of German Benjamin Becker 7-6 (10-8), 6-1. Almagro beats Andujar In Valencia, Nicolas Almagro beat fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3 to make a successful start to his bid for a third title at the Valencia Open Tuesday. The third-seeded Almagro, who won here in 2006 and 2007, reeled off winners to break Andujar five times and easily advance to the second round on the indoor hard court. Meanwhile, Bernard Tomic of Australia retired in the third set of his match with Mikhail Youzhny. Tomic was losing 4-1 after splitting the first two sets. Fifth-seeded Jerzy Janowicz hit 14 aces to dispense with qualifier Pablo Carreno 7-5, 7-6 (7). Julien Benneteau thrashed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1, while Joao Sousa defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-5. — Agencies
