Roger Federer marched into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday as the three-time finalist inflicted a 6-2, 6-1 defeat on German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
World No. 3 Federer, seeded second in the knee injury absence of Novak Djokovic, earned a sixth victory without a loss against the 32nd-ranked Kohlschreiber.
“I was able to do all the things I was hoping to,” the satisfied Swiss said. “I was consistent, consistently dangerous, too. I felt well in the offense, and in the defense I was fine.”
Photo: Reuters
“It was a quick match, but it’s up to me to back it up in the next match really,” he said.
Federer, losing finalist at the Country Club 2006-2008 against Rafael Nadal, was the first of the major players to go into action after a bye, with top-seed Nadal and No. 3 Andy Murray to make their Monte Carlo debuts yesterday.
Nadal, aiming for an historic seventh straight trophy in Monaco, had an early-morning fitness session with women’s Monte Carlo-based No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who had played an exhibition at the club on Monday.
Photo: AFP
French 16th-seed Gilles Simon defeated Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-2 to start his week with a win. However, there was disappointment for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with the 12th-seed losing to Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
“I felt I was playing extremely well for a set and a half, but I was not ahead in the score. Many things went wrong — bad bounces and I also I missed the important points,” the Frenchman said. “I’m playing better tennis, but I’m not winning, and that is frustrating.”
Canadian sensation Milos Raonic continued his education on clay as he plays in his first ATP event on the surface. The 20-year-old missed on four match points, but still defeated Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 7-5.
Ranoic, coached by a Spaniard, will next play either fourth-seed David Ferrer or Feliciano Lopez.
“It’s tough to play everybody at this level; everybody can do pretty amazing things,” the youngster said. “Either they’re going to be the most steady guy there that’s going to be there for five hours, or they’re going to be some guy that can have great talent, can really come up with a lot of good shots.”
Federer’s brief and efficient victory in 50 minutes left him undefeated in 47 straight matches against Germans dating to June 2002, when he lost to Nicolas Kiefer in Halle.
“Clearly a good start for me into the clay court season,” the winner said. “Not much I can take out of this match, I think, except maybe that I varied it well, that he couldn’t play his game. He wasn’t able to or he couldn’t really play aggressive the way maybe he was hoping to do today.
“I could finish the point almost whenever I wanted to. I was actually quite surprised I was having no problems with his serve. I wasn’t struggling when he was giving me the heavy forehand roller or the backhand roller, which he’s really good at,” Federer said.
The Federer victory was his 23rd of the season against four losses, three against Djokovic and his last to Nadal in the Miami semi-finals. Against Kohlschreiber, he lost just two points in three games as he made a fast start.
The 16-time grand slam champion is playing Monte Carlo for the first time since 2009, when he lost in the third round to countryman Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer has played the event on nine previous occasions and now stands 22-9 at the tournament.
The Swiss said he was relieved to have got off to a flyer in his first clay match of the Roland Garros run-up campaign.
“It’s a bit nerve wracking. You figure if you get off to a bad start, you figure: ‘Hmm, what am I going to do to get back into it?’” Federer said. “You can stay calm as much as you want to. If you are not getting the returns back into play the way you want to and you are doing all the running, that’s quite stressful.”
“None of that this year, which I’m happy about. I can look forward,” he said.
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