Federer commits to keep playing in Basel till 2019

Roger Federer may be 35 but he showed retirement is far from his mind by committing to play at the Swiss Indoors for another three years.
The Basel native won his 18th Grand Slam title in an epic final against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open last month, ending a five-year wait to add to his tally.
He has claimed more than $100mn (95mn euros) in prize money during his career but is showing no sign of letting up, with Swiss Indoors organisers revealing on Tuesday that Federer is booked in for the next three editions of the event, starting in October.
“I can hardly wait to step out again in front of my home crowd in autumn. To play in Basel is always one of the highlights of the year,” said Federer, a seven-time winner of his home tournament who missed last year’s event due to injury.
This year’s tournament will run from October 21-29.
It is all the more of a coup as the Swiss Indoors is only an ATP 500 event, the fourth category behind Grand Slams, World Tour Finals and Masters 1000 tournaments. Event president Roger Brennwald added: “We are in the privileged position of having been able to secure the participation of Roger Federer in our tournament for a further three years.”
Federer will be 38 by the time he plays in the 2019 edition of the Swiss Indoors.

Lu, Edmund among
winners at Delray Beach
British eighth seed Kyle Edmund and Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun booked a second-round matchup Monday at the ATP Delray Beach Open while US defending champion Sam Querrey advanced on a retirement.
Edmund, ranked 49th, fired five aces and faced only one break point in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over France’s Adrian Mannarino, while Lu, ranked 63rd, rallied from a set and 0-3 down to defeat American Bjorn Fratangelo 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
“It was a tough feeling in this moment,” Lu said. “I just tried other things. I changed the game plan, trying to come into the net more and put the pressure on him. I had nothing to lose. I just tried to play a different way and see how he reacts. It worked pretty well after that.”
Fourth seed Querrey advanced 6-2, 2-1 when Israeli rival Dudi Sela retired with a back injury. The 35th-ranked American improved to 14-7 at Delray Beach.
In a showdown of 19-year-old prodigies, American Taylor Fritz defeated Japan’s Akira Santillan 6-4, 6-4. Fritz next faces either compatriot Donald Young or Croatian second seed Ivo Karlovic.
Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka ousted Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans 6-3, 6-3, sending him into a second-round match against either US fifth seed Steve Johnson or American wild card Stefan Kozlov.