Stuttgart Open: Federer survives Fritz scare to reach quarters

Top-seed Roger Federer kicked off his grass-court season on a winning note as he fended off American teenager Taylor Fritz to progress through to the quarter-finals of his maiden Stuttgart Open here on Thursday.

The Swiss tennis maestro rebounded strongly after losing second set to record a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Fritz in a thrilling second round contest, which was earlier suspended by rain.

Federer, who was playing his first match since his third-round exit to Dominic Thiem in Italian Open, has now tied with Ivan Lendl on 1,071 wins in the Open era. The victory also saw Federer set up a clash against Germany's Florian Mayer for a place in the semi-finals. 

Earlier, Federer withdrew from the French Open after failing to recover from the back injury, thus ending a run of 65 consecutive appearances at Grand Slam tournament.