Roger Federer has relied on his serve to remain unbeaten in ATP Masters events for more than a year. Guillermo Coria has had to overcome his serve just to get to the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Federer won 87% of the points on his first serve as he defeated third-round opponent Benjamin Balleret of Monaco on Thursday, advancing to a meeting against number eight David Ferrer of Spain.
The Swiss hasn’t lost to Ferrer in three matches and his last Masters defeat was in the quarterfinals to Richard Gasquet of France at Monte Carlo on April 15 last year. He is hoping he can continue both streaks, but he has never played the Spaniard on clay.
”Every time I step on the court in a Masters series, I know how important they are and I try to do well,” Federer said after his win on Thursday.
”It just really shows that I’ve been playing fantastic tennis when it really mattered,” said the seven-time grand-slam champion — who has won every major except the French Open.
He counts Masters titles at Indian Wells, California, and Key Biscayne, Florida, among his four trophies this year.
Balleret was level at 2-2 in each set, until Federer took over.
”He played well for one-and-a-half sets until he played a couple of loose games,” Federer said. ”I took advantage of it. But I didn’t underestimate him.”
Second-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain, the only player to beat Federer this year, advanced to the last eight after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kristof Vliegen of Belgium that extended his winning streak on clay to 39 matches.
Vliegen’s touch and mobility forced Nadal off the baseline and to the net. ”I can play much better,” said Nadal. ”I need to improve my backhand.”
Nadal next faces sixth-seeded Coria of Argentina, who had an ATP three-set match record of 23 double faults in his 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win over number nine Nicolas Kiefer of Germany. Coria’s serving woes were a continuation from Wednesday’s second-round win over Paul-Henri Mathieu, when he had 20 double faults.
”Imagine what I will be like when I can serve again,” joked Coria, who hit four consecutive double faults in one game to eclipse Brazilian Jaime Oncins’s record of 22 double faults in 1994 at Mexico City.
”Without a serve I can still win, so that makes me very confident,” he added. ”Even if it’s 15 or 20 double faults, it’s the same. You just have to get your confidence back.”
The 23 double faults equaled Coria’s personal worst — versus Sebastien Grosjean of France in a four-set, third-round loss at the Australian Open this year — and was three short of Marc Rosset’s record of 26, set at Wimbledon in 1995.
Kiefer refused to shake hands with Coria after the match.
”I suppose it’s in the heat of the moment,” Coria said. ”But I didn’t appreciate the fact he insulted me at the end.”
In other matches, Tommy Robredo of Spain beat David Nalbandian of Argentina 5-7, 6-1, 7-5; Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-2; Gaston Gaudio of Argentina won 6-2, 6-4 over Alessio di Mauro of Italy; and Ferrer beat countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
Ljubicic, who is 30-4 overall this year with titles at Chennai, India, and Zagreb, Croatia, next meets Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who led 6-2, 3-2 when Robin Soderling of Sweden retired. — Sapa-AP