Wimbledon champion Roger Federer reached the third round of the
Montreal Masters with a 7-6 7-6 win over big-serving Croat Ivo
Karlovic on Wednesday.
The world number one, in his first outing since winning his
fifth consecutive Wimbledon title last month, could not force a
single break point but came out on top in two tiebreaks to
advance.
Defending champion Federer will now meet Italian qualifier Fabio
Fognini, who upset 13th seed Andy Murray 6-2 6-2 to reach round
three.
Fifth seed Andy Roddick made a solid start as the American beat
Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-3 7-6 to join Federer in the third
round
Roddick, who won the title in Washington last weekend, trailed
5-3 in the second-set tiebreak before winning four consecutive
points to clinch victory.
"He started being a lot more aggressive playing higher risk in
the second set," Roddick said. "It was working for the most part
and I was kind of just hanging on there in the second set.
"But I was just able to kind of hang around long enough, win a
couple points in the breaker. It was definitely a tale of two
sets."
The American will now play Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus or
Dutchman Robin Haase in the third round.
Lleyton Hewitt was awarded a path through to the third round
when opponent James Blake withdrew before their match with an
abdominal strain.
"I hope four, five days of ice and rest will do for me and I'll
be okay for Cincinnati (next week)," American Blake said.
"I need to be careful with the US Open coming up, I don't want
to do something that's going to cause some serious damage."
Australian Hewitt will now play Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, who
upset seventh seed Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-2 6-4, while eighth
seed Richard Gasquet squandered a match point before going down 3-6
7-6 6-4 to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko battled past Finn Jarkko Nieminen
6-3 7-6 to reach the third round while another Russian, 14th seed
Mikhail Youzhny, also advanced with a 6-4 6-4 win over Swiss
Stanislas Wawrinka
David Ferrer, the 16th seed, was beaten 7-6 6-1 by Argentine
David Nalbandian.
Murray, who returned this week after 12 weeks out with a wrist
injury, said he may sit out the next two events, in Cincinnati and
New Haven, in order to be fully fit for the US Open.
In Monday's night session, second seed Rafael Nadal takes on
former world number one Marat Safin of Russia.
(CRI via Reuters August 9, 2007)