Birthday boy Federer celebrates with a win

By Bill Scott Aug 9, 2006, 10:56 GMT

Toronto - Top seed Roger Federer celebrated his 25th birthday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Paul-Henri Mathieu to glide into the second round of the Toronto Masters Tuesday.

The stylish Swiss extended his North American win streak to 49 matches since his last loss to Dominik Hrbaty in the first round at Cincinnati almost exactly two years ago.

Mathieu has now gone out ten times in the first round since January. Federer, the 2004 winner, was presented with a cake on court after his opening victory, where he joined rival Rafael Nadal in advancing in straight sets.

The Spanish world number 2 came good as he played his first match in a month, earning a 6-3, 6-2 win over Nicolas Massu.

Nadal needed nearly two hours to successfully kick-start his title defence against the pony-tailed Chilean four weeks after losing the Wimbledon final to Federer.

Federer now stands 57-4 this season, all of his losses coming in finals to the 20-year-old Nadal.

'It was an awesome match for a first round,' said Federer, celebrating a birthday at a tournament for the first time since 2003 in Montreal. 'I liked my game very much,.

'I was doing everything pretty well, my serve, my backhand my forehand. I thought my movement was exceptional tonight.'

The Swiss continues Wednesday against Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

Defending champion Nadal was not overly impressed with his first effort. 'I played a normal match, nothing special for sure,' said the winner of 45 matches in 2006. 'After one month it's difficult take the rhythm.

'The most important thing was to win, I'm very happy for that.'

The Mallorca talent will next face Korean Hyung-taik Lee, who beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.

Nadal, who had originally planned to skip the event so as not to remain too long in North America prior to the August 28 start of the US Open, is seeded for another final against Federer.

The pair have won six of the last seven Grand Slams this season and 12 of the last 14 Masters events. The only two they missed were ones they had not entered (Paris Bercy last November and Hamburg in May).

But looking ahead is not in the Spaniard's mind. 'I just look to the next match, every one is difficult, each has a difficult moment.

'I'm thinking about the next round always.'

Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko paid the price for too much tennis, losing to Xavier Malisse 6-3, 7-5 just two days after winning a clay title in Poland.

Spain's seventh seed Tommy Robredo knocked out returning Russian Marat Safin 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, derailing the Grand Slam winner's progress after playing a Washington semi-final last weekend.

Briton Andy Murray twice failed to serve it out after leading a set and 5-1 over Spanish 12th seed David Ferrer, eventually squeezing through 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) on a fifth match point at the last possible opportunity.

He now faces a match-up against good friend and compatriot Tim Henman, whom he beat in their only previous meeting last autumn in Basel.