Top seeds Roger Federer and Amelie Mauresmo cleared their first hurdles at the 6,5-million-dollar WTA and ATP Masters Series tournament on Saturday with second round victories.
World number one Federer, currently the undisputed titan of the ATP Tour, took his first step toward a first Key Biscayne title with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Belgian Olivier Rochus. Rochus put up a fight — making Federer fight through five set points in the first set before he finally put it away on his sixth — but it was all over in 71 minutes.
”It was good,” said Federer, who is seeking to claim his second straight Masters Series title after winning in Indian Wells, California, last week. ”It’s always hard to start a tournament. But I felt quite comfortable and quite confident, even though I have a lot of respect for the player he is.”
Federer arrived in Florida with an ATP-best four titles this year. He has won seven of his last eight tournaments and 26 of his past 27 matches against top 10 opponents. The only blemish on his 2005 record is a semi-final loss to Marat Safin at the Australian Open in January. Federer said the idea of claiming a title he has never won is appealing, but not overly significant.
”Of course, it would be nice to win every tournament you haven’t won,” he said. Federer will next face Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta, a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 winner over Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan. Mauresmo, who has never made it past the fourth round in three previous appearances here, rallied from a set and a break down to beat 18-year-old Russian Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
The 25-year-old, who last year became the first French player to hold the world number one ranking, put her first-set struggles down to her own lack of rhythm as well as solid play from her young opponent.
”She played really well that first set,” Mauresmo said. ”But I thought I was giving her too many free points. I finally got my game together and put the ball back in the second set.”
Mauresmo said it was a useful start to the tournament, especially after a third-round defeat last week at Indian Wells.
”I think it’s good to come out of a match like that, especially after the disappointment of last week,” said the Frenchwoman, who next faces Israel’s Anna Smashnova, a 7-5, 6-4 winner over Japan’s Akiko Morigami. In steamy conditions, the WTA Tour’s heat rule was in effect, allowing the players a 10-minute break before the third set.
”Maybe at the end of the match I was physically stronger and capable of coming back on after the break and giving 100 percent,” Mauresmo said. Eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi, making his 19th appearance in a tournament he has won six times, was to take on France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final night match on stadium court.
Agassi came from two sets down to beat Mathieu in the fourth round of the French Open in 2002. Agassi is trying to shake off a sore left toe that prevented him from taking the court in his quarter-final against Lleyton Hewitt in Indian Wells. It was the first time in his career that Agassi surrendered a walkover.
In early matches, fourth-seeded Guillermo Coria of Argentina reached the third round, beating Italian Davide Sanguinetti 6-1, 6-4. Coria was runner-up here last year to American Andy Roddick, forced to retire while trailing in their final with back spasms.
Sixth-seeded Briton Tim Henman ended the hopes of Czech lucky loser Ivo Minar 7-5, 6-3 and seventh-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina defeated Germany’s Bjorn Phau 6-2, 6-2. American qualifier Jeff Morrison upset the form book, however, surprising 10th-seeded Swede Joachim Johansson 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
Two other Frenchwomen joined Mauresmo in advancing. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro defeated Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, and Tatiana Golovin beat American Angela Haynes 6-0, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3. And a string of seeded Russian women advanced, led by number four Elena Dementieva, a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 winner over compatriot
Evgenia Linetskaya.
No. 5 Anastasia Myskina defeated Venezuela’s Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-2, 6-1, and sixth-seeded US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat fellow Russian Galina Voskoboeva, a qualifier, 6-1, 6-3. – Sapa-AFP