Federer, Nadal advance; Roddick exits French Open

May 29, 2007, 20:25 GMT

Paris, France - Top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal recorded straight-sets wins, while third-seeded American Andy Roddick came up a first-round loser Tuesday at the 2007 French Open.

The top-seeded Federer began his match against Michael Russell on Monday and was ahead 6-4, 4-1 when play was suspended because of rain. He finished the American off quickly on Tuesday with a routine 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 decision.

Following two days of mostly rain here, Roland Garros enjoyed some dry and sunny conditions on Day 3.

Federer is trying to capture the only Grand Slam title that has eluded him. He finished as the runner-up last year to the Spanish clay sensation Nadal and needs a French Open crown to complete a coveted career Grand Slam.

A victory here would also make the Swiss star the current holder of all four major championships. The 10-time Grand Slam champ followed his French Open loss last year with wins at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, then started 2007 with a victory at the Australian Open.

Federer's second-round opponent will be capable Frenchman Thierry Ascione, who throttled Croat Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

The second-seeded and two-time defending Roland Garros titlist Nadal handled promising Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Nadal was down a break, trailing 3-5 in the first set, but the powerful Spaniard promptly took control of the match and won 16 of the final 21 games to move on.

Nadal had won a record 81 straight matches on clay before he lost to Federer in the Hamburg Masters finale two weeks ago. Nadal is now riding a 15-match winning streak at the French Open.

Unseeded Russian Igor Andreev erased Roddick in 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 fashion on Court Lenglen. Roddick has now bowed out in the first round two straight and four of the last six years here and hasn't gotten past the second round since his first trip to Roland Garros in 2001.

The massive-serving Roddick won the first set and was leading 4-3 in the second when Andreev turned the match around. The athletic Russian prevailed in 2 hours, 43 minutes with the help of eight aces, compared to only five for Roddick. The Russian also had twice as many service breaks as Roddick (4-2), as the American star continued his struggles on red clay.

The former U.S. Open champion Roddick was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to the mighty Federer.

Another upset came, as Radek Stepanek made sure that Fernando Gonzalez will not reach a second straight major final, as the tough Czech bounced the fifth- seeded 'Gonzo' 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. Gonzalez was January's Aussie Open runner-up to Federer.

Other top winners Tuesday included seventh-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, ninth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 11th-seeded French favorite Richard Gasquet and 14th-seeded Aussie Lleyton Hewitt. Ljubicic finished off French veteran Arnaud Clement 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), Robredo completed a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Argentina's Sergio Roitman, the talented Gasquet grounded his countryman Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and the former No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam titlist Hewitt humbled Belarusian Max Mirnyi 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

Fifteenth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian got past Korean Hyung-Taik Lee 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, while 16th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis swatted heavy French crowd favorite Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Nalbandian reached the semifinals here last year and in 2004. Grosjean, who turned 29 on Tuesday, suffered his first opening-round loss here since 1998.

Former French Open champ Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain advanced with a 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 decision against American Amer Delic. The 17th-seeded and former top-ranked Ferrero claimed his title here in 2003 and was the runner-up in 2002.

Argentine Guillermo Canas cruised past Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. The 19th-seeded Canas is considered a darkhorse for this tournament, as he has already beaten the great Federer twice this season.

Another Argentine, 18th-seeded slugger Juan Ignacio Chela, came from behind to beat crafty French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-3, 6-3, while 13th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny advanced when his scheduled opponent, Czech Jan Hernych, retired from their bout during the warmup.

Other seeded Day-3 winners were No. 20 Finn Jarkko Nieminen, No. 21 Russian Dmitry Tursunov, No. 27 Austrian Jurgen Melzer, No. 28 German Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 29 Italian Filippo Volandri and No. 32 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Kohlschreiber needed all five sets, including a 17-15 victory in the fifth, to sneak past Czech Lukas Dlouhy.

Mild upsets came when Spanish clay-courter Albert Montanes bested 25th-seeded Swede Robin Soderling 7-6 (7-4), 4-1, retired and Argentine Carlos Berlocq took out 30th-seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Benneteau was a surprise quarterfinalist here a year ago.

© 2007 The Sports Network