Roger Federer picked up where he left off seven years ago at the Rotterdam Open, as the 2005 champion won 13 of the final 14 points in a 6-4, 6-4 sweep of Nicolas Mahut on Wednesday.
The world No. 3 and top seed then got an unexpected bonus as his scheduled second round opponent, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, withdrew with a foot problem sending the Swiss straight into the quarter-finals today and a date with Jarkko Nieminen.
The other two leading seeds joined Federer in advancing.
Tomas Berdych overpowered his Czech Davis Cup teammate Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-2 to start his campaign with a win.
Third seed Juan Martin del Potro made a winning debut as he played the event for the first time and put out 2008 champion Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4.
In other first round results, Marcos Baghdatis beat German Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, while Russian Alex Bogomolov advanced as Sergiy Stakhovsky quit injured trailing 6-3, 0-1.
Slovak Karol Beck beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, while Finn Nieminen was first into the quarters with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/2) defeat of Pole Lukasz Kubot.
SAP OPEN
AP, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
The SAP Open lost its top seed Gael Monfils to injury on Wednesday and almost its No. 2 as well before Andy Roddick struggled past American compatriot Dennis Kudla 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the second round.
Ryan Harrison advanced to the second round by upsetting eighth-seeded Olivier Rochus of Belgium 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The 19-year-old American rallied past Rochus from 3-1 down in the third set to win the final five games.
BRAZIL OPEN
AP, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain lost to Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 in the first round of the Brazil Open on Wednesday.
In the late match, fourth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci defeated countryman Ricardo Mello 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round.
Earlier on Wednesday, eighth-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain ousted Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3, 6-4, capitalizing on his two break opportunities in the second set to beat the Colombian for the first time in three matches.
David Nalbandian of Argentina defeated Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
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