Nadal and Federer make winning starts

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:25

Second seed Roger Federer, who has lost the last three finals to Nadal, also advanced to the third round with a straight-sets win over Andreas Seppi but Juan Martin del Potro crashed out.

Nadal will face qualifier Nicolas Lapentti in the third round after he won an astonishing three-and-a-half-hour match against former world number one Marat Safin 7-6 (8/6) 2-6 7-6 (8/6).

Up next for Federer is 13th seed and Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka, who was made to work hard for his 2-6 7-5 6-2 over Argentina’s Martin Vassallo Arguello.

Del Potro had come into the tournament on a high after beating Nadal to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Masters and climbing to fifth in the world rankings but he was brought crashing down to earth by Ivan Ljubicic.

The 30-year-old Croatian wild card showed all his experience in a 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory, breaking in the ninth game of the decider before finally seeing off his Argentinian opponent.

Spain enjoyed further success in the tournament on Wednesday with seventh seed Fernando Verdasco easing past Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3 6-4, while Albert Montanes was a 6-2 6-4 victor over local wild card Jean-Rene Lisnard.

Nikolay Davydenko, the eighth seed, won his second-round match with Ivo Karlovic 6-4 6-3 and Italy’s Simone Bolelli overcame Janko Tipsarevic 7-5 6-3.

Twelfth seed David Nalbandian battled back from a set down to beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 4-6 6-3 6-1.

And Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini upset 14th seed Marin Cilic 6-2 6-0 to set up a third-round clash with world number four Andy Murray.

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