Still en route at Roland Garros

After two rounds, twelve-time grand slam champion Roger Federer remains en route to a thirteenth grand slam title and first at Roland Garros.

There was talk that Federer would have his hands full in the first round since he was drawn there against big-serving Sam Querrey. Happily for Federer fans, the Swiss was virtually untroubled as he dispatched the 6ft 6in American in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 6-3.

In the next round, Federer went up against Albert Montañes of Spain. That matched was interrupted by rain which made Federer struggle with his rhythm and lose the opening set in a tie-break 5-7. But that first-set loss apparently only served to spur on the Swiss to step up his game. He bounced back spectacularly, surrendering only a single game in the next two sets (6-1 6-0), and wrapped up the victory with a 6-4 score in the fourth set.

Next up for the world number one is Mario Ancic who himself is playing some of his best tennis this clay court season. The Croat, who also came down with mononucleosis last year, is known to be the last person to have defeated Federer at Wimbledon.

Note:
I'm afraid my posts about Federer's matches at the French Open will be relatively short since the sports cable channel which is available in our part of the country and carried live coverage of Roland Garros in the past years has opted not to buy the rights this season. I can only watch the live scores available online (oh, bummer!) as well as listen to Radio Roland Garros which isn't much help, by the way, as the people there rarely comment on the ongoing match. Talk about live "coverage"!
Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Stopped by Nadal in Hamburg

Reigning Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal outlasted 12-time grand slam champion Roger Federer 7-5 6(3)-7 3-6 in the finals of the ATP Masters Series in Hamburg, Germany to take the only clay-court Masters Series shield missing from his trophy case.

Reminiscent of the finals in Monte Carlo, this match was a see-saw battle between the two tennis greats.

Federer gained the upperhand early with some superb shot-making to race ahead 3-0 before the Spaniard could get himself on the scoreboard. This seemed to be a routine set win when he earned set-point when way ahead 5-2 with Nadal serving to stay in the set. But after Nadal took an injury time-out for what appeared to be a pulled hamstring, Federer lost his concentration--and six games in a row to eventually concede the set to a strangely subdued Nadal (i.e. no fist pumps, etc.).

The number two-ranked Spaniard then looked to finish off Federer in straight sets by breaking the Swiss' serve right off in the second set. The four-time Hamburg title holder however refused to give up and broke back immediately. With momentum on his side, Federer then played aggressively to break Nadal's serve one more time and set up a 5-2 lead. But ever-fickle Lady Luck decided to change sides once more letting Nadal break back to stop Federer from running away with the set and even the score at 5-all. Nadal then threatened with three break points in the next game but Federer eked out an amazing turnaround by winning five successive points to hold serve for a 6-5 lead. A relatively comfortable serve by Nadal sent the second set to a tie-break where a rallying Federer came back from a mini-break down to force a deciding set.

Both players began the third set with holds of serve with Federer struggling a bit more in his service game. Things began to look bleak for the Swiss when Nadal displayed his authority on the red dirt in the fourth game with a break of serve. The 21-year old then managed to hold off a clearly frustrated and error-prone Federer in subsequent games, and sealed victory with a love service game to avenge the defeat--the first in 81 matches on clay--that Federer dealt him in last year's finals.

(From the way things looked during the awarding ceremony however, Nadal mysteriously didn't appear to relish this victory in particular and looked as glum--or perhaps even glummer--than Federer as they posed with their trophies for the press.)
This was obviously a tough match for Federer who had little opportunity to hone his game with straightforward wins against unseeded player en route to the finals. He did have patches of brilliance during the match but was just not able to maintain a high level of play long enough to outwit and outlast the Spaniard this time around.

But with the French Open to look forward to, Federer should once again take the positives from this latest defeat and, with part-time coach Jose Higueras in his corner, hope to capture the grand slam title that has long eluded him. This at least should be the motivation that would keep him from retiring prematurely just as WTA number one Justine Henin did recently!
Photo credit:AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach

Going for fifth title at Hamburg

Four-time title holder Roger Federer is going for a fifth title at the ATP Master Series in Hamburg after holding off unseeded player Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-1 in the semifinals earlier today.

The world number one's opponent in the finals will be whoever will emerge as world number two as a result of the battle between current world number two Rafael Nadal and current world number three Novak Djokovic.
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Still no title in Rome

Roger Federer has just lost an extremely close match to Radek Stepanek, 7-6(4) 7-6(7), in the quarterfinals of the ATP Master Series in Rome, Italy.
Both players never faced a break point as each comfortably held serve in the opening set. While Federer served very well--he won all points when his first serve went in--Stepanek matched him in that area and was increasingly becoming more effective in preventing the top seed from getting any rhythm. This much was clear in the tiebreak where Federer struggled to make any headway into the Czech's serve.

Things became especially bleak for the Swiss in the second set when Stepanek broke early on to race to a 3-0 lead. But the champion's heart in Federer enabled him to claw back to 3-4--much to the delight of the highly partisan crowd--and force another tiebreak. There, Federer won a long and terrific rally to go up 4-1. But when Federer was on the verge of forcing a deciding set at 6-5 his game fell apart once again to allow the 27th ranked Stepanek to eventually triumph over the world number one for only the second time.

Thus ended Federer's quest for a title at Rome this year. Just when he had a golden opportunity to bag the crown for the first time given three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal's exit in the second round!

But as in the case of the Spaniard, Federer will at least have more time to rest and prepare for the next ATP Masters Series which is in Hamburg and commences this coming Sunday. Federer is defending champion in that tournament and has won the title there four times.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Federer topples Karlovic

Top ranked Roger Federer continued his relentless march toward a first title at the ATP Masters Series in Rome after overcoming the tour's tallest player, Ivo Karlovic, in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-3.

The Swiss at first struggled with Karlovic's big serve and failed to convert a few break points in the first set before prevailing in the tiebreak. Afterwards Federer appeared to pick up on his opponent's serve and began to relax, breaking the Croat's serve in the fifth game of the second set. He fittingly clinched victory on another break of serve.

Overall, Federer played an excellent match hitting 27 winners to just nine unforced errors. He also lost only a total of ten points on serve throughout the match. As expected Karlovic who towers over everyone else in the tour at 6'10" managed to fire twelve aces past the Federer but that ultimately wasn't of any help as he failed to get past the top seed.

Federer will next face Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic who earlier fought back to defeat qualifier Luis Horna 6-4 1-6 6-3.
Photo credit: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images

Federer Express dispatches Cañas

World number one Roger Federer subdued nemesis Guillermo Cañas in straight sets 6-3 6-3 to earn a spot in the third round of the ATP Masters Series in Rome.

Facing the 30th ranked Cañas for the first time on clay, Federer was clearly the better-adjusted of the two after breaking the Argentine's serve in the sixth game of the opening set. He repeated the feat in the seventh game of the second set but only after fending off a break point on his previous service game. He then went on to seal a convincing victory on his second match point after quickly going up 0-40 as Cañas served to stay in the match.

Federer put in one of his better performances on clay during the one-hour and 24-minute match. The two-time finalist at Rome fired 34 winners past the struggling Cañas, who had only ten winners, and, despite putting in just 54% of his first serves, surrendered a total of twelve points on serve.

Previously, Cañas was one of the few players on the tour with a winning record against the Swiss. With this latest victory by Federer, the two are now tied with three wins each.