The Hindu : Sport : Federer struggles to beat Monaco; Hewitt moves up

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Thursday, May 17, 2007
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Federer struggles to beat Monaco; Hewitt moves up

FORCEFUL DISPLAY: Lleyton Hewitt overcame Juan Ignacio Chela to enter the third round of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Hamburg.

Hamburg: Roger Federer, who is going through his worst slump since taking over the No. 1 ranking, struggled to beat Juan Monaco 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 on Wednesday in the second round of the Hamburg Masters.

Federer, who needs to win the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, has gone four straight tournaments without a title — his worst stretch since becoming the top-ranked player in February 2004.

Playing under a closed roof of the centre court on a rainy and cool day, Federer broke Monaco for a 5-4 lead in the final set and then served out the match, converting his first match point with a service winner.

Federer has won the Hamburg Masters in three of his last four visits. Besides being one of the biggest tournaments outside the Grand Slams, the Hamburg event is also an important warm-up for the French Open.

Federer improved his record on clay this year to 6-2. He had 44 winners against Monaco, who had 12. But Federer also had 12 more unforced errors at 38.

Also, Carlos Moya rallied to upset 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6), and 16th-seeded Lleyton Hewitt defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Hewitt broke Chela in his opening service game and hardly looked back as he went a set and a break up. He was briefly in trouble as Chela broke back and the former World No. 1 had to save two set points when 5-6 down. He managed to hang in and force a tie-break, winning it 7-3 with a punched half-court forehand on match-point.

Serena goes through

Meanwhile, in Rome, Serena Williams overcame a slow start before beating Michaella Krajicek 6-4, 6-1 in the second round of the Italian Open.

"I kept missing and hitting balls out. I wasn't playing my game at all. I was letting her dictate play," Williams said. "But it was a good start. I got to run. She moved me a lot."

Williams had trouble gaining her footing on the red clay and gave up an early break to fall behind in the first set. The former No. 1 was late getting to the ball and appeared winded after several long points.

Krajicek was able to hold comfortably courtesy of a powerful first serve reminiscent of her older brother Richard Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion.

Williams started to gain rhythm and hit several powerful backhands to break back and even the set at 4-4, and then applied even more pressure during Krajicek's next service game to break again and win the set.

Williams hadn't played since pulling out of the United States' Fed Cup tie with Belgium last month, citing a right knee injury.

Sania crashes out

Sania Mirza's singles return got off to the worst possible start as she crashed out of the Morocco Open with a shocking first-round loss to Argentine qualifier Maria Emilia Salerni at Fes.

The top seed, who was playing her first singles match after a two-month-long injury layoff, lost 2-6, 5-7 to make a humiliating premature exit from the $145,000, Tier IV event.

"Of course it is disappointing; it was frustrating to be there knowing what I wanted to do, but not being able to execute like before the injury. But that's what lack of match play will do. I knew I'd be quite rusty and wouldn't be anywhere close to what I wanted," Sania said after the match.

The Indian ace was let down by her serve and was broken early on as she dropped the opening set in under half an hour. The 20-year-old showed some resilience in the second set and trailing 1-5, she staged a mini-comeback to level the scores 5-5.

However, the effort proved too little and too late as Salerni broke the Indian yet again to seal the issue in her favour.

Earlier, Mirza had made a successful doubles comeback, teaming up with American Vania King to down the Russian pair of Alla Kudryavtseva and Olga Savchuk 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in the first round.

The results: At Hamburg (ATP Masters Series): Second round: David Ferrer bt Robin Soderling 6-1, 3-6, 6-2; Nicolas Almagro bt Tommy Robredo 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-4; Ivan Ljubicic bt Florent Serra 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Roger Federer bt Juan Monaco 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Lleyton Hewitt bt Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 7-6(3); Carlos Moya bt Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6). First round: Julien Benneteau bt Rainer Schuttler 7-6(2), 6-2; Filippo Volandri bt Andy Murray 1-5 retired; Jose Acasuso bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-4; Florian Mayer bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5); Jurgen Melzer bt Alexander Waske 6-3, 6-4.

At Rome (WTA Italian Open): Second round: Serena Williams bt Michaella Kracijek 6-4, 6-1; Dinara Safina bt Kaia Kanepi 7-6(5), 6-2; Elena Dementieva bt Catalina Castaqo 6-4, 6-3; Patty Schnyder bt Meilen Tu 6-4, 6-0; Juliana Fedak bt Nathalie Dechy 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. First round: Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Jie Zheng 6-2, 6-2; Tathiana Garbin bt Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 7-6(3); Samantha Stosur bt Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4; Mara Santangelo bt Akiko Morigami 6-2, 6-0; Patty Schnyder bt Vasilisa Bardina 6-1, 6-2; Sybille Bammer bt Gisela Dulko 7-5, 7-5; Nathalie Dechy bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-0, 6-4; Kaia Kanepi bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-3, 6-3; Juliana Fedak bt Romina Oprandi 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

At Morocco (Morocco Open): Singles first round: Maria Emilia Salerni bt Sania Mirza 6-2, 7-5.

Doubles first round: Sania Mirza/ Vania King bt Alla Kudryavtseva/ Olga Savchuk 6-3, 5-7, 10-8. — Agencies

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