Federer Rolls, Massu Next at French Open

Posted on June 1, 2006

Roger Federer weathered two rain delays amidst a chilly overcast day Wednesday at the French Open, defeating Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to move into the third round and a meeting with claycourt specialist and No. 32 seed Nicolas Massu.

"I'm happy to get through," Federer said. "It's not easy to come on and off [the court]. You always hope your game is still there and it hasn't left you...I would like to win here. The pressure is quite big. I enjoy the challenge."

The pressure will be big in his meeting with Massu, who beat the Swiss in 2002, and stretched him to a tiebreak this year in Indian Wells.

Other Top 10-seeded winners were (3) David Nalbandian (d. Gasquet, bagel in the fourth), (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Saretta who retired with the flu), and (10) Gaston Gaudio (d. Korolev in five).

"I thought that would be a tough match because he's a very good player," said Nalbandian of Gasquet, who has been suffering elbow tendonitis. "Doesn't matter if I beat him twice. He's young, he's tough, he's strong. I think he played a good match in the beginning. Then was so windy, so difficult to play. But I think I played good in the end, and that's good."

Other seeded winners were (12) Mario Ancic (d. Capdeville), (13) Nicolas Kiefer (d. Gicquel 11-9 in the fifth), (20) Tomas Berdych (d. Volandri), (24) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Kohlschreiber), (30) Carlos Moya (d. Youzhny), and (32) Massu (d. Mirnyi).

The former champ Moya will next face last year's semifinalist Davydenko.

"He's a better player today than when I played him the four previous times," said Moya of the Russian. "He's in the Top 10 now. He is a rival that will be difficult to beat. He's a solid player. He serves very hard. He runs a lot. There was the match in Estoril, three sets, where I had opportunities but ended up losing the match. I'm happy with the two matches that I've won. I'm going to have to think about how winning the match against Davydenko will go."

Kiefer's match went almost five hours after the German almost blew a 2-0 set lead.

"I prefer to make it easier," Kiefer said. "But, no, was not easy. I mean, I started very good. I played unbelievably great tennis first two sets. Came out a little slow in the third set. He played much better. At the end of the day, it counts a win, what's on the paper. A win is a win. I know I had a tough match like this a few matches in Melbourne also. I would prefer to save some energy."

Ancic and Capdeville got into a shoving match as they approached the chair umpire after their match, apparently a misunderstanding that was resolved in the lockerroom.

"The chair umpire favored him all the way," Capdeville said. "I was just criticizing the chair umpire, so I don't understand why he reacted this way."

Czech Lukas Dlouhy delivered the shocker of the day, ousting (26) Jose Acasuso 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-1.

Winners in all-unseeded matches were Spaniard Albert Montanes (d. Galvani in five) and Dutchman Raemon Sluiter (d. N.Lapentti).

Matches called due to darkness were (7) Tommy Robredo leading Ilia Bozoljac 7-5, 6-2, 1-3; (21) Sebastien Grosjean leading Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; and (31) Dmitry Tursunov leading Tim Henman 6-3, 6-2.

Highlights of Thursday play at Roland Garros include (2) Nadal vs. K.Kim, (4) Ljubicic vs. O.Hernandez, (8) Blake vs. Almagro, (14) Hewitt vs. the Frenchman Montcourt, (15) Ferrer vs. the Frenchman Chardy, (29) Mathieu vs. Serra in an all-French, (25) Gael "Force" Monfils vs. Norman, (19) Baghdatis vs. Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, (23) Haas vs. Waske in an all-German, (9) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez vs. Djokovic, (28) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Juan "The Principality" Monaco, and (22) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic.