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Seeds cruise at ATP Queen’s, Federer wins in Halle


Andy Roddick stumbled early in his defence of the ATP Queen’s title, but recovered to beat fellow American Robby Ginepri at Queen’s.

Roddick, winner of the tounament for four of the past five years, lost the opening set on a tie-break but stormed back to complete a 6-7 6-1 6-1 win.

The 25-year-old missed the French Open with a shoulder injury but showed no ill effects as he won 12 of the last 14 games to reach the third round. Roddick, No.3 seed, is in Andy Murray’s half of the draw, and the pair are scheduled to meet in the quarter-finals.

French Open hero Rafael Nadal eased by Jonas Bjorkman to reach the third round, winning 6-2 6-2. “Right now I am playing well,” Nadal said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to adapt from clay to grass, but I came through this.

“It was a very important win and I am feeling good. I like it here.”

Lleyton Hewitt – like Roddick, bidding for his fifth Artois title – beat Xavier Malisse 6-3 6-2. Fernando Gonzalez also saw off perennial grass-court struggler Marat Safin 6-3 7-6.

Andy Murray faces Ernests Gulbis in his third round match today after the Latvian, who reached the last 8 at the French Open, beat Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-7 6-3.

Novak Djokovic bounced back from semi-final defeat at Roland Garros to run away with the first set against Croatia’s Roko Karanusic, and was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second.

But the Serb couldn’t close it out and had to come through a tense tie-break before posting a 6-2 7-6(7) victory.

David Nalbandian, the tournament’s fourth seed, beat Serbia’s Viktor Troiki 6-4 7-6 and will play last year’s runner-up Nicolas Mahut in the third round, after the Frenchman defeated John Isner 7-5 6-4. No.5 seed Richard Gasquet also advanced with a 6-3 6-3 win over Simone Bolelli.

Meanwhile in Halle, Roger Federer bounced back from his French Open thrashing to notch his 55th straight win on grass. The Swiss beat German Michael Berrer 6-4 6-2 in he second round of the Gerry Weber Open.

Defending champion Tomas Berdych crashed out, suffering a 6-2 7-5 second-round loss to Sweden’s Robin Soderling, who produced 13 aces to oust the No.3 seed.

No.2 seed James Blake had an early scare against his German opponent Benjamin Becker, losing the first set, before recovering for a 4-6 7-5 6-3 win.


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.