Roger Federer is officially in a slump.
After losing to Guillermo Canas twice and Rafael Nadal in his previous three tournaments, Federer hit a new low on Thursday with a loss to an Italian wild card.
Filippo Volandri beat the top-ranked Swiss 6-2, 6-4 in the third round of the Rome Masters, extending Federer's title drought to four straight tournaments.
PHOTO: AP
It's the worst stretch of Federer's career since ascending to No. 1 in February 2004.
"I don't know what's wrong. I have to analyze it myself," Federer said. "I just couldn't get my teeth into the match at all."
Rome is a key clay-court warmup for the French Open, which begins on May 27, and Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam that Federer hasn't won.
"[I need to] get back on the practice courts instead of the match courts," Federer said.
Two-time defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal extended his clay-court winning streak to 74 matches with a 6-2, 6-2 win over 15th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny.
Youzhny had beaten Nadal in their last two meetings -- both on hard courts.
Nadal was examined by doctors on Thursday for a dizziness but appeared untroubled in his night match against Youzhny.
Nadal is aiming to become the first player to win the Rome tournament in three consecutive years. He beat Federer in a fifth-set tiebreaker in last year's final.
In the quarter-finals, Nadal will face fifth-seeded Novak Djokovic, who rallied in the second set to beat last year's Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 7-5.
Third-ranked Andy Roddick's run also came to a halt on Thursday, losing to Juan Ignacio Chela 6-0, 6-4. Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko avoided another upset by rallying to beat Potito Starace 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Federer dropped his serve twice in the first three games and quickly lost control of the first set. In the second set, Volandri broke to take a 2-1 lead when Federer made four errors.
"On clay you don't get many free points if you don't serve well, and I was serving horrendous in the beginning," said Federer, whose first-serve percentage was 44 percent.
Volandri put 74 percent of his first serves in play.
"I served really well, with a lot of spin that made the ball bounce real high, and the strategy worked," Volandri said.
On Volandri's first match point, Federer hit a forehand into the net.
Volandri dropped down to the clay on his back and ran around the court slapping fans' hands to celebrate. The crowd responded with a chant associated with Italy's World Cup soccer win last year.
Martina Hingis has missed the past six weeks on tour with various afflictions. Now a hip injury could cost her the French Open.
The fourth-seeded Swiss struggled on Thursday with a painful hip in a 6-4, 6-0 loss to compatriot Patty Schnyder in the third round of the German Open.
Having missed the last month and a half, the new ailment is making her question whether to defend her title next week at Rome or even whether she can play at Roland Garros.
"Definitely that's on my mind not to play Rome," Hingis said. "I have two weeks to get ready for the French Open. It was a learning experience here -- I shouldn't play unless I am 100 percent."
"I'd like to make a decision soon what to do about my future," she added.
Third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 5 Jelena Jankovic and No. 7 Nadia Petrova were among those that advanced to the quarter-finals.
Kuznetsova beat Germany's Martina Mueller 6-3, 6-2, and Petrova defeated compatriot and 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-3.
Jankovic advanced when Peng Shuai quit with an ankle injury with the Chinese leading 3-2 in the third set.
Likewise, No. 12 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia was leading Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 5-0 when the Ukrainian retired with a sprained left ankle.
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