Federer Wins in Return, Nadal Pulls and Roddick Falls at Hamburg

Posted on May 10, 2005

Federer Wins, Nadal Pulls and Roddick Loses on Day One at Hamburg

Top seed Roger Federer opening his Hamburg title defense with an impressive 6-4, 6-3 win over Fernando "Pass the" Verdasco in the first round on Monday. Federer, who missed Rome last week due to problems with both feet, said he's now feeling fine.

"I was exhausted, my feet were hurting and now I am fresh, that's important," Fed said. "I've been playing a lot this year, so I needed to save some energy."

Speaking of energy, marathon Rome winner Rafael Nadal had little left in tank following Sunday's thrilling 5-hour, 14-minute win over Guillermo “El Fragile” Coria. The 18-year-old Nadal, who had played 17 matches in 27 days, officially withdrew from Hamburg citing a bad left index finger. Nadal was joined by floundering countryman Carlos Moya who pulled with due to a right shoulder injury.

Back on court, Nicolas "Golden Boy" Massu gave No. 2 seed Andy Roddick all that he could handle and more on the slow, wet clay, defeating the American 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5. Massu, an unlikely Gold Medal winner at the Olympics last year, is a decent clay court player, but unfortunately for Roddick, there will be about 40 Massu-types in the French draw that he may or may not have to deal with.

To his credit, Roddick did fight till the end overcoming a 3-5 deficit in the third to even it at 5-5, but then lost the match on an ill-advised drop shot. Oops.

"It was questionable," Roddick said of hitting the dropper down match point. "It's not my favorite shot."

Also posting wins on the cool, damp afternoon were “Jolly” Tim Henman (d. Lars "Burger"muller), Sebastien Grosjean (d. Pim Pim Johansson), Tommy Robredo (d. Alexander Waske), Richard Gasquet (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic who retired), Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer) and also Gustavo Kuerten (d. Pavel).

On tap for Tuesday, Andre Agassi (v. Feli Lopez), David Naldbandian (v. Soderling), Tommy Haas (v. Hrbaty), Guillermo Coria (v. Spadea) and Marat Safin (v. A. Martin).

Italians Enjoy Perfect Start in Rome

With the top seeds all earning first round byes, there wasn’t much to chew on Monday in Rome, unless you were a fan of the Italian players.

Three Italians took the court, and three Italians won. How about that! Silvia Farina Elia, Francesca Schiavone and Maria Elena Camerin all posted wins. Camerin earned the win of the day upsetting No. 10 seed Nathalie Dechy “Or Didn’t She?” 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

No.9 seed Elena Bovina also advanced by crushing “My” Mashona Washington 6-2, 6-2 and the 13th-seeded Farina Elia dispatched Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-1.

Other winners included Jelena Jankovic, Anna Chakvetadze, Paola Suarez, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Anabel “Funky Cold” Medina Garrigues and Samantha Stosur. Medina Garrigues advances to take on top seed Maria Sharapova, while Stosur will next seed defending champion and No.2 seed Amelie Mauresmo. For her win Monday, Schiavone now meets Serena Williams.

Tuesday in Rome, Maria Sharpova will be on court against Medina Garrigues along with Tatiana Golovin (v. Ivanovic) and Svetlana “The Kewz” Kuznetsova (v. Suarez).

Kostanic, Benesova Win in Prague

No.3 seed Jelena Kostanic and No.5 Iveta “Win this Title” Benesova were among the winners in Prague on Monday. Kostanic moved into the second round with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory against American Lilia Osterloh., while Benesova overcame an early deficit to defeat No.378-ranked Czech wild card Andrea Hlavackova, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

The only seeded player to flame out on Monday was No.6 seed Tamarine Tanasugarn, who fell to Henrieta Nagyova of the Slovak Republic, 6-2, 6-44. Also winning on Day 1 was Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho, who posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over Greece's Eleni Daniilidou.

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