Federer back to old self as nemesis Canas brushed aside

Published on Tuesday 6 May 2008 23:35

ROGER Federer settled a score with his bogey player Guillermo Canas yesterday, easing his way into the third round of the Rome Masters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Canas went into the game as one of the few players on the tour to hold a winning record against the world No1, but yesterday's result evens things up at three victories apiece.

The Argentine came closest to breaking his opponent in the sixth game of the second set, when Federer was lucky to save a break point with a net-cord winner. Federer, beaten finalist here in 2003 and 2006, never looked back, breaking Canas's serve twice in the last three games.

"The draw was tough with Guillermo in the second round. We've had some tough ones in the past and I knew it was going to be difficult," said Federer.

Federer said he was confident he was back to his best after suffering from glandular fever and losing his Australian Open title in a poor start to the season. "I'm back in my stride again and feel like I'm playing well and nothing ever happened," he said. "It was a tough couple of months early on".

Rafael Nadal, aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title, will meet unseeded 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in a second-round match today after his fellow Spaniard came from behind to beat German Nicolas Kiefer 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over fellow American Mardy Fish.

Croatian wildcard Mario Ancic defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4 and will meet fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the second round.

Andy Murray will play Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round today after Juan Martin Del Potro retired with a back injury in the deciding third set of a game interrupted by rain.

On the women's tour eighth seed Marion Bartoli breezed past Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-3 in the second round of the German Open yesterday.

Last year's Wimbledon runner-up took just over 50 minutes at the Steffi Graf Stadium to become the first player to reach the third round of the clay-court tournament. Lucky loser Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, who replaced the injured Amelie Mauresmo in the draw, defeated Aravane Rezai 7-5, 7-5 in the first round.