TENNIS – Roger Federer swept aside Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-2 to advance easily into the third round of the Rolex Master Monte-Carlo, the first European Master 1000 Tournament on clay of the year. Rafa Nadal also opened with a straight set win over Teymuraz Gabashvili with 6-4 6-1 but he faced a double break point in the first set. Diego Sampaolo
Federer, who received a wild-card last week to play for the first time in Monte-Carlo since 2011, won his only 2014 match against Stepanek in Dubai with the scoreline of 6-2 6-7 6-3. .
Federer stormed to 3-0. Stepanek failed to convert two break point chances before Federer cruised to 5-0 in just 17 minutes. Stepanek avoided the bagel winning the first game before Federer closed out the first set with 6-1 in just 22 minutes. Federer was very solid on serve winning 90 percent of his first serve points.
Federer capitalized on his first break point of the second set with a forehand pass down the line before holding serve with a overhead backhand smash. Stepanek posed a more serious threat to Federer in the second set but Federer was in full control of the match and took a 3-2 lead.
Federer faced two break points in the sixth game of the second set at 15-40 but he got out of trouble saving them by winning four consecutive points including two winners for 4-2 before closing it out with 6-2 in just 52 minutes to improve his record against the Czech Davis Cup hero to 14-2. The Basel native scored his 25th win this year leading the list of players with most winning matches this year.
The World Number 4 converted all four of his break point chances and hit 14 winners to 9 unforced errors.
Federer is looking to win his first Monte-Carlo title, one of the three Master 1000 Tournaments missing from his trophy cabinet (the other two are Rome and Shanghai). He lost three consecutive finals against Rafa Nadal in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Federer will face another Czech player Lukas Rosol who beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4 6-4.Rosol is teaming up with Stepanek for the doubles where they will face Mike and Bob Bryan.
“I am a bit surprised how well it went. I had a good start to both sets. I was solid on my service games. It was a good start to my clay campaign”, said Federer.
“I am very happy now that I am doing well. I am just trying to keep up my rhythm. I feel free physically and in my mind. I am no longer afraid that the rally will last long. This was getting in the way of my game last year, whereas now I can really enjoy myself”.
Rafa Nadal faced a tougher test against Teymuraz Gabashvili especially in the first set when he dropped his opening service game and faced a double break point when the Russian player led 3-1 30-40 on Nadal’s serve. but he managed to break back to love in the sixth game. He won nine of his next ten games.to clinch the first set and build up a 4-0 lead in the second set
Nadal faced four consecutive break points in the second set before breaking serve for 5-1. Nadal closed out the match with a forehand winner with 6-1 after one hour and 13 minutes.
“It was very important the break point for him at 3-1. I saved it with one good shot and one good volley. After that I felt that was the time to try to push a little bit more and increase the rhythm and the intensity. I played a good game to break back. I felt that I had the match a bit more under control.
Nadal clinched the 680th match of his career which ranks him 12th in the list of players with most match wins ahead of US Brian Gottfried.
Nadal clinched his 49th victory in Monte-Carlo where he won eight consecutive titles between 2005 to 2012.
Nadal will face Italian Andreas Seppi who won a marathon match against another Spanish player Pablo Andujar in three sets with 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-4 in two hours and 48 minutes. Seppi has reached the third round in Monte-Carlo for the first time in his career. Seppi rallied from 2-5 to 5-5 without facing a single set point. In the tie-break the Italian took a 4-1 lead but Andujar rallied by winning 4 consecutive points for 5-4. Seppi won the next three points to win the tie-break 7-5. Seppi got two chances to serve out for the match but he failed to convert them. Andujar clinched the second set in the 12th game with 7-5 to force the match to the third set. Seppi wasted two match points but he closed out the match with 6-4 after two hours and 48 minutes.
Nadal leads 4-1 in his head-to-head matches against Seppi but they have not met since 2009.
Seed Number 10 and last year’s Monte-Carlo semifinalist Fabio Fognini won a hard-fought two-set match against Roberto Bautista Agut with 7-6 (8-6) 6-4. Fognini went down 3-5 but he fought back from 15-30 to break back with a backhand pass before drawing level to 5-5 on the fourth deuce. Fognini broke serve to take a 6-5 lead. He failed to convert two set points. In the tie-break Fognini rallied from 2-4 and 4-5 to clinch the first set with 8-6 on the fourth set point.
Fognini built up a 2-0 lead in the second set and looked to be cruising to a easy win but he dropped his serve. The Italian managed to win 12 points to 2 to open up a 5-2 lead but he made too many mistakes enabling Bautista Agut to claw his way back to 4-5. The Spaniard got a point to draw level to 5-5 but Fognini saved it with a couple of forehands before closing out the match with 6-4 after one hour and 43 minutes to claim his 22nd of the year. Fognini has improved his seasonal record to 22-6 and ranks third in the list of most match winners behind Federer (25-4) and Marin Cilic (23-6)
Milos Raonic rallied from a set down to beat Taiwan’s Lu Yen Hun 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-1.
The other young star of the circuit Grigor Dimitrov also dropped the first set but he managed to rally for the second consecutive match to edge Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos with 4-6 6-3 6-4 in just over two hours.
No less than 14600 fans attended the third day filling both the Centre Court and the Court de Princes on a cool and windy day. The Centre Court will remain sold out for the rest of the week.
