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.

Runner-up again at Monte Carlo

World number one Roger Federer has finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo for the third straight year after losing in two tight sets 7-5 7-5.

The first set saw both players exchanging breaks with Nadal eventually prevailing in the 12th game when he converted the first of two break points as Federer served to stay in the set. Indeed the Swiss had a promising start with an early break for a 1-0 lead but failed to hold serve on his first service game. When he got another opportunity to pull away at 4-3 after another break of serve, that too was all for naught when Nadal broke back immediately.

The second set was essentially deja vu but to a more extreme degree. Federer had an even more incredible start as he played some stunning clay court tennis--including breaking his opponent's serve to love--to race to a 4-0 lead. In a bizarre reversal of fortune, his terrific form deserts him to allow the heavily favoured Spanish champion to level the set at 4-4. Federer then managed to move within a point of bringing the set into a tie break only to have Nadal force a couple of errors off his racquet to earn match point. His hopes of preventing Nadal from claiming a fourth straight title here tellingly ended with a backhand error.

Although it was a disappointing loss, Federer showed that he was capable of breaking Nadal's serve. He kept the pressure on Nadal more successfully than Nadal's previous opponents in the tournament. It was just unfortunate that he was unable to keep his unforced error count down and maintain a more consistent level of play.

While this latest defeat sets back Federer to a 1-7 record in his clay court head-to-head against the three-time Roland Garros champion, his finals appearance together with his title at Estoril last week can at least be taken as positive signs that the tennis superstar is finally on his way back from illness and a poor start to this season.
Photo credit: AP Photo/Claude Paris

Another gift of a finals spot

It seems that Roger Federer's general likeability--or perhaps it's the aura of invincibility that he exudes--has gone to such an extent that players are now handing him over victories this year. Talk about conquering your opponents with both your tennis game and kindness!

First there was Tommy Haas who gave the world number one a free ticket to the semifinals at Indian Wells. Then there was Davydenko who made the even more generous gesture of handing Federer the title at Estoril last week, Federer's first title this season.

And now there's Novak Djokovic.

The Serb has just retired from his semifinals match against the Swiss at the ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo after trailing 6-3 3-2 to set up a dream final between the top two players in the tour. No surprise there as Djokovic has made it a habit of pulling out from a match when he's feels he's not up to finishing the match and is at the losing end.
Djokovic appeared to have the upperhand early in the match as he threatened Federer at his service game by going up 15-40 when the score was at two games all. But Djokovic was unable to convert both breakpoints and a third later in the set. Federer on the other hand was much more successful as he pounced for the kill at his very first opportunity to break Djokovic's serve and earn a chance to serve for the set at 5-3.

In the second set, Federer produced an early break of serve to go up 2-1 but failed to consolidate it as Djokovic immediately broke back to love to level the set. The two-time Monte Carlo runner-up proceeded to break Djokovic's serve for a second time for a 3-2 lead. By that time however Djokovic evidently thought that he had had enough and indicated that he couldn't continue playing because he was feeling weak and dizzy.

Federer now progresses to the finals for the third straight year where he hopes to prevent Rafael Nadal from making history by collecting a fourth successive title at Monte Carlo. The world number two had earlier eased past fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-2 and holds a 6-1 head-to-head record against Federer on clay.
Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Tennis Goliath brings down David

Twelve-time grand slam champion Roger Federer received a major boost of confidence when he barged back from a set down to triumph over David Nalbandian 5-7 6-2 6-2 and secure a spot in the semifinals of the ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo.

The opening set was a display of superb shotmaking as neither player faced a breakpoint up until the 11th game as Federer served to stay in the set. The top seed then produced a number of errors to let the Argentine gain the upperhand with a one-set-to-none lead.

But the loss of that opening set apparently spurred on the world number one when he immediately broke Nalbandian's serve in the second set. Nalbandian however responded by breaking back in the next game but unfortunately struggled to maintain his level of play. He thereafter surrendered his next two service games to allow Federer to clinch the set at 6-2.

The deciding set was no different from the previous one as Nalbandian failed to recover and continued to fade miserably as the Swiss showed his class to produce sublime winners off his racquet. Federer then fittingly closed out the match by breaking Nalbandian's serve for a fifth time, roaring with delight after firing a running forehand past the hapless Nalbandian.
The resurgent Swiss now joins the other top three players of the ATP tour in the semis where he will face world number three Novak Djokovic of Serbia. World number two Rafael Nadal of Spain and world number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia face off in the other semifinals match.
Photo credits: AP Photo/Claude Paris (top right) and Stephane Danna/AFP/Getty Images (bottom)