Federer advances safely, but Roddick gets knocked out

World No. 1 Roger Federer, in search of his first title this year, took no chances on Sunday as he moved smoothly into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters Series.

The top-seeded Swiss, who enjoyed a first-round bye, defeated Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 in his first ATP outing since a first-round ouster at Dubai last week.

Federer, who has put his quiet start this year down at least in part to a bout of mononucleosis, is hoping a return to the California desert, where he won the title three years in a row from 2004-2006, will be the tonic he needs.

While Federer began to gather steam, red-hot Andy Roddick was cooled off by Germany's Tommy Haas.

Haas, 29, used a break in each set to defeat sixth-seeded Roddick 6-4, 6-4, displaying an array of crisp passing shots and asserting himself when it mattered most.

Roddick had come into the tournament on a high, with titles in San Jose and last week in Dubai already to his credit this year.

But after enjoying a first-round bye he fell at the first hurdle of this US$5.7 million tournament, which features both the men's Masters Series event and a WTA tier one tournament.

Haas, meanwhile, arrived at the first Masters Series of the season hoping to jump start his 2008 campaign.

After undergoing shoulder surgery in November, Haas didn't play his first tournament of the year until February, falling from 11th to 27th in the rankings.

Haas broke Roddick in the ninth game of the opening set and calmly served it out. He earned the lone break of the second set in the seventh game, then held off a determined Roddick in the next game to preserve his advantage.

Serving for the match, Haas raced to a 40-0 lead, but badly missed a forehand volley then sent a crosscourt forehand wide on his first two match points. Haas finally claimed the match with a forehand that clipped the net and dropped out of Roddick's reach.

Fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko advanced, defeating US wild card John Isner 6-2, 7-6 (7/3). Seventh-seeded Argentinian David Nalbandian also advanced, defeating Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), and 11th-seeded Scot Andy Murray rallied to beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In women's play, Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova, the fourth seed, moved into the fourth round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Greece's Eleni Daniilidou.

Sharapova next faces Alona Bondarenko, who ousted former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 6-2.

Svetlana Kuznetsova struggled through with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, booking a clash with Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Japan's Aiko Nakamura.