Roger Federer rallied from a set down to beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday in the first round of the clay-court Estoril Open.
The top-ranked Swiss player had eight aces in the first set, but made too many forced errors. His double-fault on set point in the seventh game, one of 53 unforced errors in the match, allowed the 80th-ranked Belgian to lead 4-3.
In the fourth game of the second set, Federer squandered two break points with wayward shots. But he broke Rochus’ serve in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead and didn’t concede a point in his set-clinching service game.
Federer looked more composed in the final set and twice broke Rochus’ serve. The top-ranked player finished with 17 aces.
Federer has made his worst start to a season since 2000 — the last time he went four tournaments without a victory. He is trying out coach Jose Higueras, a clay specialist, at the event in Portugal.
Only two Grand Slam titles short of tying Pete Sampras’ record of 14, Federer still needs to win the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam.
Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko also made a shaky start against Jurgen Melzer but recovered to win 6-3, 6-1.
Davydenko, coming off a victory at the Sony Ericsson Open, lost his first service game and trailed 2-0 before breaking his opponent’s serve three times in the first set.
The Russian won the Estoril Open title in 2003 and lost in the final two years ago.
Third-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia retired injured while losing to Rui Machado of Portugal 6-4, 1-0; Denis Gremelmayr of Germany eliminated fourth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; and eighth-seeded Michael Berrer of Germany defeated Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-4, 7-5.
Other winners included Victor Hanescu of Romania, Thierry Ascione of France and Joao Sousa of Portugal.
In the women’s event, top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy dropped the opening set against Yvonne Meusburger of Austria before recovering to win 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Second-seeded Maria Kirilenko also struggled before beating Stefanie Vogele of Switzerland 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-1, and fifth-seeded Tathiana Garbin of Italy knocked out Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.
Eight-seeded Camille Pin of France and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine also won.
US Clay Court
AP, HOUSTON, Texas
Igor Kunitsyn of Russia rallied from a set down to beat second-seeded Tommy Haas 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a first-round match at the US Clay Court Championship on Tuesday.
Kunitsyn broke Haas in the first game of the final set but then quickly dropped his own.
The Russian broke again in the fifth game and held on to beat the 2004 champion.
“That’s definitely one of my best wins,” said Kunitsyn, who is ranked No. 111 in the world. “I was there from the first point to the last point. I didn’t give him any free points, and I think I pretty much succeeded.”
In the opening set, Haas was down 1-4 but rallied to win it 7-5, although he needed two 16-point games — one to break Kunitsyn in the sixth game and the second to hold his own serve in the ninth — to do it. He broke the Russian again to close out the set.
The two traded breaks early in the second set and Kunitsyn had a pair of break points in the seventh game but Haas hung on for a 4-3 lead.
Returning in the next game, Haas got up 40-love with three chances to break for a 5-3 lead. But he squandered five straight points and dropped the game to make it 4-4.
“He should have won [the second set],” Kunitsyn said. “He let it slip.”
Haas double-faulted four times in losing serve in the ninth game, then Kunitsyn held to even the match at a set apiece.
Earlier, third-seeded Mardy Fish beat Germany’s Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (4), 6-3.
The two other seeds in action, No. 5 Agustin Calleri of Argentina and No. 7 Marcel Granollers-Pujol of Spain, also won.
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