World No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Novak Djokovic eased into the third round of the Key Biscayne Masters on Friday with victories over qualifiers.
Switzerland’s Federer, playing just his second tournament since losing to Rafael Nadal in the final of the Australian Open, beat American Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-2. Federer said it was always tricky taking on an unfamiliar opponent, even one ranked well below him.
“I’ve never played him before, so of course I was always going to get surprised in some points just because I didn’t know what his favorite shot was,” Federer said. “But I realized very quickly what his pattern was, especially on the serve, as well. Even though he had a good serve today, he had a good few games, but I think I did well today. It was a great start to the tournament.”
The 13-time Grand Slam champion next faces Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer, a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 winner over France’s Fabrice Santoro.
Djokovic booked his third-round berth with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Canadian Frank Dancevic.
The Serbian saved all six break points he faced, breaking Dancevic three times en route to a victory in 70 minutes. Djokovic improved on his performance last year, when as defending champion he lost his opening match to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
Federer, winner of back-to-back titles at Key Biscayne in 2005 and 2006, took time off after the Australian Open to recover from a lingering back injury. He appeared to be headed to a rematch with Nadal at the first Masters event of the year last week at Indian Wells, but fell in the semi-finals to Britain’s Andy Murray.
“I feel like this is an important week for me to do well, especially now that I have matches again under my belt,” Federer said. “I’m into the third round here, so I feel like things are going well for me again.”
Murray’s run to the final in California moved the world No. 4 even closer to bumping Djokovic from the No. 3 spot.
Fifth-seeded American Andy Roddick opened his campaign with an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 rout of Argentina’s Diego Junqueira that took less than an hour.
In women’s second-round matches, second-seeded Russian Dinara Safina, who has a chance to leave with the No. 1 ranking, coasted into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Mathilde Johansson of France.
Safina would have overtaken Serena Williams atop the rankings had she reached the Indian Wells final last week, but the world No. 2 lost in the quarter-finals. Safina, 22 and the younger sister of former men’s world No. 1 Marat Safin, will get another shot at the top spot if things break her way this week.
Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, who lost her opening match at Indian Wells, bounced back with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 triumph over countrywoman Anastasia Pivovarova.
Seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine, and eighth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Austrian qualifier Tamira Paszek, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and India’s Sania Mirza defeated Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5.
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
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