Back-on-Task Federer Mauls Moodie in TokyoPosted on October 6, 2006 After a testy two-tiebreak opening win, world No. 1 Roger Federer dodged the rain drops and got his game into gear Thursday in Tokyo, posting a 6-2, 6-1 whipping on defending champion and No. 13 seed Wesley Moodie.
The win improved Federer to 46-2 on hardcourts in 2006, and set him up for a quarterfinal berth against Japanese wildcard Takao Suzuki, who saved five match points for a 6-7(4), 7-6(10), 6-1 win over Alexander Waske of Germany. This year alone Federer has won eight titles in 12 finals. The No. 2 seed Tommy Robredo also advanced with a 6-4, 7-6(9) win over author and No. 15 seed Vincent Spadea. The Spaniard will now meet No. 9 seed Hyung-Taik Lee who stunned popular Russian Dmitry Tursunov in three sets. Andre Agassi's conqueror at the US Open, Benjamin Becker, and Jiri Novak worked overtime to put it mildy. When the rain stopped the two player were last on court, with Becker prevailing 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) at 3:24 a.m. local time. According to ATP records, it was the latest a tour match had ever finished on the circuit, beating the prior known mark of 3:21 a.m. at Philadelphia in 1990 when Pete Sampras and Jim Courier lost a doubles match 6-4, 6-2 to Paul Chamberlin and Tim Wilkison. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||