(Reuters) – Top seed Roger Federer suffered a shock 6-3 6-4 defeat to Germany’s Daniel Brands in his opening match at his home Swiss Open yesterday – the latest setback for the former world number one.
The 17-times grand-slam champion was beaten in 66 minutes by the 55th-ranked Brands in the second round in Gstaad, a week after beating the same player in the Hamburg tournament.
Federer, 31, recently slipped out of the world’s top four for the first time since 2003 following a shock defeat by journeyman Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon and last week lost in the Hamburg semi-finals to 114th-ranked Argentine Federico Delbonis.
Losing in his own backyard will be particularly galling for Federer, who recently switched to a larger-headed racket.
