Federer Shines, Ferrero Gloomy at Rainy ATP Gstaad

Still riding the high of his Wimbledon win, world No. 1 Roger Federer made the two-day transition from grass to clay look easy on Tuesday, toying with Germany's Tomas Behrend 6-1, 6-1. Federer has yet to win his homecountry event in Gstaad.

"It's amazing, I'm very surprised myself because I'm extremely tired," Federer said. "I have no very high expectations for this tournament but it seems with my relaxed style I get through these kind of matches. I had only 25 minutes of play on this surface before I play the match and I'm very pleased that I had a win today."

Federer walked out on court to a standing ovation prior to the match from his homecountry fans, and was presented with a giant wooden alp horn in appreciation for his Wimbledon heroics. Last year Federer was presented with a cow upon returning to Gstaad from the All England Club.

"I knew before that I wouldn't be getting a cow," Federer said, noting that Juliette the cow had since given birth. "I've got two already, I don't need a third. They knew that and I was relieved."

Two other seeded players checked the "W" column in (3)Rainer Schuettler (d. Kratochvil in three) and (6)David Ferrer (d. Berdych in three). Un-seeds into the second round were Swiss Davis Cup captain Marc Rosset (d. (5)Pavel to the delight of the homies), Spaniard Felix Mantilla (d. C.Rochus in three), German riser Florian "Oscar" Mayer (d. Portas), and Croatian "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Hernandez in three).

On court Wednesday in Gstaad are (4)Novak vs. Montanes, Hanescu vs. (Q)Starace, Ramirez Hidalgo vs. the Ferrero-killer Koubek, and (8)Costa vs. Andreev.

Four of the five seeds on the dirt in Bastad advanced Tuesday, led by French Open holder (2)Gaston Gaudio (d. Davydenko), and joined by (5)Tommy Robredo (d. Calleri in three), (6)Fernando Gonzalez (d. Luis "Me So" Horna), and (8)Mariano Zabaleta (d. J.Johansson).

"I had not been in Bastad since '99," Gaudio said. "I remember I lost to (Markus) Hipfl in Court 1. I wanted to come back to Bastad since my good friend (Mariano) Zabaleta told me to come since he had a great time here. And he was right. I am very happy to be here since it is a great tournament."

The lone casualty was homeboy (7)Jonas Bjorkman, who failed to make the smooth transition from the lawns to the ground brick, getting spankied 6-2, 6-2 by qualifier Santiago Ventura. Also winning on the un-seed side were Kristof Vliegen (d. Di Pasquale), Italy's Filippo Volandri (d. Canas in three), and in successful back-from-injury style, Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (d. Vanek in three).

On today in Bastad are (WC)Monaco vs. Vliegen, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze vs. (8)Zabaleta, Nieminen vs. (6)Gonzalez, and A.Martin vs. Volandri.

The rain finally subsided in Newport Tuesday, where all eight seeds took to the court with two casualties in (4)Gregory Carraz (l. to former champ Rusedski in three) and (6)Jan-Mike Gambill (l. to countryman Morrison in three).

The seeded winners were (1)Vince Spadea (d. Salzenstein in three), back-form-injury (2)James Blake (d. D.Norman), (3)Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. Hernych), (5)Cyril Saulnier (d. Gimelstob 6-1 in the third), (7)Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp (d. former NCAA champ (WC)Delic), and (8)Anthony Dupuis (d. Vacek). In the two all-unseeded matches, through to the second round were Frenchman Nicolas Mahut (d. countryman Golmard), and Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen (d. Reid 7-6 in the third).

On deck today in Newport among the highlights/lowlights are (LL)Kendrick vs. Sanguinetti, (WC)Vahaly vs. (Q)Mertinak, (WC)Blake/Blake vs. Peya/Popp, (Q)Weiner vs. Peya, Moodie vs. (Q)Baker, Elseneer vs. (Q)Ram, and (WC)Gambill/Gambill vs. Elseneer/Salzenstein. Go Tory, jump on that Jan-Mike bandwagon.

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