Tennis:World number one and reigning champion Roger Federer booked his spot in the third round of the Madrid Open tonight after easing past Benjamin Becker, but the casualties continued to stack up in the women's event.
Federer looked to be cruising to victory but was then taken to a second set tie-break before seeing off his German opponent 6-2 7-6 (7/4) in one hour and 21 minutes.
The Swiss ace, hoping to bounce back from his shock semi-final defeat to Albert Montanes in Estoril and second round exit in Rome, was pleased with his overall performance but felt there were areas he needed to work on.
“I served solidly, I returned great and that combination is tough for the opponent,” said the 28-year-old, who has failed to reach a final since winning the Australian Open in January.
“I could have made it a bit easier for myself in the second set, I had some chances but that’s the sort of stuff I’ve got to get through and it was important for me to win the break and close it out.
“I’ve lost many tight matches lately and you try everything out there and just sometimes it’s not working the way you want it to work.
“I’m happy with the way I reacted after all the stuff that has happened in the last weeks and months. That’s exactly the kind of stuff I need right now in my game.”
Federer could next face countryman and Olympic gold-medal winning doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round after the 15th seed defeated Spanish wildcard Marcel Granollers 6-4 6-4 today. Wawrinka must first meet Leonardo Mayer in the second round.
With most of the top seeds still to play in the men’s event, there have been few chances for upsets.
But it is a different story in the women’s tournament.
Yesterday third seed and defending champion Dinara Safina joined the likes of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin in bidding an early farewell, and today it was the turn of second seed Caroline Wozniacki to suffer a surprise loss.
Wozniacki, the runner-up last year, lost her second round match to Alona Bondarenko 6-2 6-3.
Bondarenko, who will now play 13th seed Li Na after the Chinese number one defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 3-6 7-5 today, said of Wozniacki: “I don’t think it was her best day. She made a lot of mistakes.
“I know her game well and she always play without mistakes.”
Wozniacki was not the only women’s seed to fall today, with number six seed Elena Dementieva, Agnieszka Radwanska (nine), Marion Bartoli (12) and Flavia Pannetta (14) all losing to unseeded opponents in second round matches.
The successful players, respectively, were Alexandra Dulgheru, Patty Schnyder, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Andrea Petkovic.
Aside from Li, two other seeds joined the already-qualified Williams sisters Serena and Venus, plus number 15 Francesca Schiavone in the third round.
They were number eight Samantha Stosur, a 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 victor over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, and number 16 Nadia Petrova, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 7-5 to set up a showdown with top seed Serena Williams in the next round.
Czech qualifier Klara Zakopalova, having claimed the scalp of Safina yesterday, was beaten by Aravane Rezai 6-3 7-5.
In the men’s event, Spanish sixth seed Fernando Verdasco won the only other second round match today apart from the Federer-Becker tie when he eased past giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7/5) 6-3.
In first round matches, seeded players Mikhail Youzhny (10), John Isner (13) and Thomaz Bellucci (16) all progressed.
Not all the men’s seeds advanced, however.
American Sam Querrey followed up his win at the Serbia Open last weekend with a shock first round exit here at the hands of Spanish qualifier Daniel Munoz-De La Nava, going down 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 7-5.
Meanwhile, 11th seed Tomas Berdych also said farewell to the tournament after his first round match with David Nalbandian was cancelled due to injuries for both players.