Federer struggles to beat qualifier in Monte-Carlo

Apr 17, 2007, 18:54 GMT

Monte-Carlo, Monaco - Swiss superstar Roger Federer needed a pair of tiebreaks to get past Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi in second-round action Tuesday at the Masters Series Monte-Carlo -- the third of nine Masters Series events this year. This tournament also serves as an early tune-up for the French Open, which will commence late next month in Paris.

The top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer snuck past Seppi in 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6) fashion on the red clay at the famed Monte-Carlo Country Club. The Swiss great needed three match points to finally put Seppi away.

The 10-time Grand Slam titlist Federer entered this event having dropped two of his previous four matches, both at the hands of gritty Argentine Guillermo Canas at Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami, respectively.

The reigning Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Masters Cup champion Federer was last year's Monte-Carlo runner-up to Rafael Nadal, the two-time defending titlist here.

Federer's third-round opponent will be Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, who upended 13th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-3.

Belgian Kristof Vliegen reached the round of 16 by erasing two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Marat Safin of Russia 0-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 in 2 hours, 25 minutes, while one other second-round result saw Spanish lucky- loser Guillermo Garcia-Lopez knock out Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Garcia-Lopez joined the draw Tuesday when eighth-seeded Brit Andy Murray pulled out, citing a back injury suffered while playing doubles alongside his brother Jamie here on Monday.

A trio of seeds notched first-round wins on Day 3, as No. 10 Czech Tomas Berdych bested Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 5-0, 11th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet labored to get past Spanish slugger Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-7 (12-14), 7-6 (7-3) and 12th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer handled Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1. Almagro, who titled in Valencia for a second straight year this past Sunday, retired against Berdych due to a back injury.

Additional opening-round wins came for Chilean Nicolas Massu, Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, Germans Benjamin Becker and qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber and Argentine qualifier Sergio Roitman. Becker took out 2002 Aussie Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, while Hrbaty, a finalist here in 2000, straight-setted Spanish qualifier Albert Portas.

Aside from Federer-Lee on Wednesday, a second-seeded Nadal will open defense of his titles against hard-hitting Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela. Nadal is also the reigning two-time French Open champ.

The winner of this $2.2 million tournament will collect $460,000.

© 2007 The Sports Network