The Hindu : Sport : Federer and Sharapova run hot on cold day

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Thursday, Jun 01, 2006

Sport

Sport

Federer and Sharapova run hot on cold day

UNSTOPPABLE: Carlos Moya brooked no resistance from Mikhail Youzhny en route to the third round. — Photo: AP

PARIS: Roger Federer was better than the weather.

On a third consecutive damp, chilly day at the French Open, the top-ranked Federer endured two rain delays while beating Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round on Wednesday.

The two delays lasted one hour and 31 minutes, while the match itself took just one hour and 26 minutes.

Federer is bidding for his fourth consecutive Grand Slam title at the only major he hasn't won. He missed forehand shots on two match points in the final game before closing out the tie to improve to 40-3 this year. Federer never lost serve, winning 55 of 68 service points, and finished with 41 winners to 13 for Falla.

In the women's section, fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova, recovering from an ankle injury she aggravated last week, moved well on clay to beat Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1.

Early start pays off

With cool temperatures, an early start paid off for No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko. He became the first man to reach the third round when Flavio Saretta retired while trailing 6-2, 4-1. ``I couldn't run anymore,'' Saretta said.

Davydenko played well from the beginning despite a 11 a.m. start.

Another Russian, the No. 14 seed Dinara Safina, eased past Czech Republic's Hana Sromova 6-0, 6-2. Safina hit 31 winners, including six aces. ``I can say it was an easy match today,'' Safina said. ``I was pretty solid.''

Safin fined

Safina's elder brother, two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, was fined $10,000 on Wednesday for failing to hold a post-match news conference after losing in the opening round to Fernando Gonzalez.

The 24th seed Katarina Srebotnik defeated Ashley Harkleroad 6-3, 6-2, leaving just three Americans in the draw. In another match, No. 17 Flavia Pennetta defeated Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-0 in 52 minutes.

Davydenko vs. Moya

Davydenko hit 15 winners to six for Saretta and lost only six points on his serve. A semifinalist last year at Roland Garros, Davydenko won his sixth career title on Saturday in Austria.

He takes a seven-match winning streak into his next match against No. 30 Carlos Moya, the 1998 champion, who held every service game to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

The 20th seed Tomas Berdych swept past Filippo Volandri 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in another second round match.

Indians' doubles progress

Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belgian partner Xavier Malisse kicked off their French Open men's doubles campaign in style with a 6-2, 6-2 win against unheralded Gilles Muller of Luxemburg and Christophe Rochus of Belgium.

The Bhupathi-Malisse pair was in control right from the beginning and it never relaxed its grip, dropping just four games on way to a facile straight set win.

Putting behind the disappointment of her singles loss, Sania Mirza and Slovakia's Janette Husarova cruised into the doubles second round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over the Spanish-Colombian pair of Conchita Martinez and Catalina Castano.

Sania and Husarova dominated the match right from the start, giving their opponents no breathing space. The India-Slovak pair raced away with the first set 6-1, as Martinez and Castano struggled to match them.

The second set followed the same pattern except that the Spanish-Colombian duo put up some resistance and managed to win three games. However, Sania and Husarova kept their nerve to win the set 6-3. — Agencies

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seedings

Men's singles: Second round: 6-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Flavio Saretta (Bra) 6-2, 4-1, retd.; 30-Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 20-Thomas Berdych (Cze) bt Filippo Volandri (Ita) 6-3, 6-1, 6-1; 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Alejandro Falla (Col) 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

First round: Alexander Waske (Ger) bt Fernando Vicente (Esp) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4); Jiri Vanek (Cze) bt Nicolas Mahut (Fra) 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3); 22-Dominik Hrbaty (Slk) bt Sergio Roitman (Arg) 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3; 25-Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Andy Murray (GBR) 6-4, 6-7 (2), 1-6, 6-2, 6-1; 29-Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt Bjorn Phau (Ger) 6-4, 6-2, 6-1; 4-Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Carlos Berlocq (Arg) 6-2, 6-0, 6-3; Alberto Martin (Esp) bt 5-Andy Roddick (U.S.) 6-4, 7-5, 1-0, retd.; Christophe Rochus (Bel) bt 18-Thomas Johansson (Swe) 3-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; 15-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 7-5, 6-1, 6-0; Jeremy Chardy (Fra) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 6-2, 7-5, 6-2; 14-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-2, 6-0; 9-Fernando Gonzalez (Chl) bt Marat Safin (Rus) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Women's singles: Second round: 14-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Hana Sromova (Cze) 6-0, 6-2; Aravane Rezai (Fra) bt 22-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; 24-Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Ashley Harkleroad (U.S.) 6-3, 6-2; 17-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 6-1, 6-0; 4-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-4, 6-1; Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt 25-Marion Bartoli (Fra) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1; Li Na (Chn) bt 27-Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) 7-5, 6-3; 16-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt Sun Tiantian (Chn) 6-1, 6-3.

First round: Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

5-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt Maret Ani (Est) 6-3, 6-0; Akiko Morigami (Jpn) bt 3-Nadia Petrova (Rus) 6-2, 6-2; Anastasiya Yakimova (Bela) bt Jill Craybas (U.S.) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3; 32-Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) 6-3, 2-6, 11-9; Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt 30-Klara Koukalova (Cze) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1; Mathilde Johansson (Fra) bt Hsieh Su-wei (Tai) 6-4, 6-4.

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