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Federer claws back from the brink

Federer was two points away from defeat
Nadal won easily against Ancic

MONTE CARLO: Roger Federer narrowly escaped complete humiliation on Wednesday when he came back from 1-5 down in the final set to beat Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The World No. 1 was within two points of a famous defeat before he carved out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(1) second round win over the battling World No. 137, who twice had the opportunity to serve for the match.

Second seed Rafael Nadal won a potentially tricky second round match against Mario Ancic 6-0, 6-3.

The astonishing tie will do nothing to dampen speculation that the great Swiss player could be on the verge of serious decline.

So far this year, he has lost his Australian Open title, went out in the first round in Dubai and failed to make the finals at either the Indian Wells or Miami Masters.

The results: Second round: Roger Federer bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(1); Rafael Nadal bt Mario Ancic 6-0, 6-3; Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko bt Simone Bolelli 6-2, 7-6(5); David Ferrer bt Marat Safin 6-2, 6-3; Igor Andreev bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 retired; Gael Monfils bt Ivo Karlovic 7-6(8), 6-1; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-4; Sam Querrey bt Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-5. — Agencies

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