Roger Federer eased over another hurdle in his quest for a first French Open title when he outclassed Italy's Potito Starace on Friday to reach the last 16.
It was classic Federer -- swift, ruthless and sublime. Starace was little more than a walk-on figure by the end of a third round tie that lasted just 91 minutes with the Swiss star winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-0.
Women's top seed Justine Henin was equally dismissive of her opponent downing tall Italian Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-3 to celebrate her 25th birthday in style and coast into a fourth round tie against Austria's Sybille Bammer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Federer was joined in the fourth round by two of the men expected to give him trouble in the later stages of the Grand Slam tournament next week -- Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Guillermo Canas of Argentina.
Also through went rising Argentine star Juan Monaco defeating French wildcard Edouard Roger-Vasselin and gritty Russian Mikhail Youzhny who outlasted 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-2.
To complete the last 16 line-up in the top half of the draw, last year's beaten semi-finalist David Nalbandian of Argentina silenced the partisan center-court crowd by seeing off a bold challenge from Gael Monfils in four tough sets.
Filippo Volandri of Italy stunned seventh seed Croatian Ivan Ljubicic and Spain's Tommy Robredo coasted past Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.
Henin apart, Jelena Jankovic was the pick of the women, underlining her title credentials by defeating Venus Williams 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Serena Williams kept the family flag flying late in the day though with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.
Federer said after his mismatch against Starace that all was in place as he gears up his bid to dethrone Rafael Nadal and become only the third man in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
"I feel well and I'm playing well. I haven't lost a set so I'm happy to be in the fourth round," Federer said. "I felt good from the start and it was hard for him to hit service winners. I always felt that I would be the better man from the baseline and on clay that's a huge advantage."
Federer will take a career 9-0 advantage over Youzhny into today's fourth round match.
Despite that record, he insists he will not underestimate his opponent.
"Although I have never lost to him, I have a lot of respect for his game. I like the way he plays, so I will have to be careful," he said.
Davydenko was equally dismissive of French hope Michael Llodra winning 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to move to within two matches of a possible semi-final matchup with Federer.
Canas, playing his his first Grand Slam event since serving a 15-month ban for doping saw off the challenge of Belgium's Kristoff Vliegen 6-2, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
France's Marion Bartoli was too good for 2004 runner-up Elena Dementieva of Russia winning 6-2, 6-4.
Joining her in the last 16 were Italy's Tathiana Garbin who ousted French youngster Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, Austria's Bammer who ended Chinese hopes with a straight sets win over Li Na, sixth-seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic who breezed past Australia's Samantha Stosur and Dinara Safina of Russia who bounced back to defeat Italy's Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 and set up a tie against Serena Williams.
In the mixed doubles Taiwan's Chuang Chia-jung teamed up with Australian Todd Perry to defeat No. 4 seeds Kveta Peschke and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and six minutes.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS