Roger Federer made a solid start to his clay-court season, relying on the counsel of provisional coach Jose Higueras to advance into the second round of the Estoril.
ESTORIL: Roger Federer made a solid start to his clay-court season, relying on the counsel of provisional coach Jose Higueras to advance into the second round of the Estoril.
The Swiss top seed, seeking his first title of a slow-starting season, overcame gritty Belgian opponent Olivier Rochus, Belgium, 4-6 6-3 6-2 on Tuesday. “Getting through a match like this is good, especially being down a set,” said Federer. He next plays Victor Hanescu. “I had to come back and fight, but the reward was great. I played well towards the end,” said the Swiss.
Federer is playing a non-Masters ATP spring clay event for the first time since winning the Munich title in 2003. He is guided this week under a temporary arrangement with Spain’s past clay master Higueras, former coach of Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang, the latter two French Open champions.
Federer is keen to correct a historic imbalance in his current season. It’s the first time since 2000 that he’s gone first three months of a season without a trophy. The 12-time Grand Slam champion is currently embroiled in his second-longest trophy dry spell (five events) since late 2002 and early 2003 when he went seven tournaments without a title.
Second seed and former champion Nikolay Davydenko was untroubled after arriving from a Davis Cup win in Moscow, dispatching Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3 6-1 to ease into the second round.
In women’s play, top-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta defeated Yvonne Meusburger 4-6 6-0 6-2 while number two Maria Kirilenko faced a battle before stopping Swiss teenager Sandra Vogele 6-4 6-7 (2) 6-1.
Fish advances
American Mardy Fish hammered 11 aces to beat unseeded German Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (4) 6-3 at the 436,000 dollar US Men’s Clay Court Championship. Fish, who won the tournament in 2006, also broke Schuettler twice in five chances to defeat the 31-year-old German for the third time in four career meetings on Tuesday.
Chakvetadze crashes out
Third-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze was sent crashing out of the Family Circle Cup after being upset in the second round by unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-2 1-6 6-2.
Fifth-seeded American Serena Williams avoided the upset bug and ran her winning streak to 12 matches after recording a 6-3 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Gisela Dulko in their second-round clash yesterday. This is the 26-year-old’s first tournament since capturing the 30th championship of her career at the Sony Ericsson Open in Florida earlier this month.
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