Toronto - Frenchman Gilles Simon shocked Roger Federer
Wednesday, handing him a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 opening-match loss at the
Toronto Masters as the world's number one tennis misery continued
after losing the Wimbledon title.
'I was playing like in a dream,' Simon said. 'I just saw the ball,
and I hit it as hard as possible. It's so nice to play three sets
like this and to win the match.'
Two-and-a-half weeks after going down in five sets to Rafael Nadal
at the All England Club, Federer, who received a bye in the first
round, was stunned in the second by the 22nd-ranked Simon, who won
Indianapolis at the weekend.
Federer's long-held number one ranking is now under threat after
Nadal and number three Novak Djokovic both reached the third round in
straight sets.
Federer was clearly rattled by the loss, in which he committed
four-straight unforced errors to put Simon into a winning position as
the underdog took full advantage on his first match point after two
hours.
'It's important to stay positive,' the shattered Swiss star said.
'The hard-court season has just started, and we have nine months of
it.'
'It's not the end of the world, but I wish I could have started
better,' said Federer, a two-time Toronto winner. 'I like this event,
and I've done well here.
'I've got to regroup and look forward to the Olympics and the US
Open. This is really where I want to win. I have to make sure that
I'm ready to.'
It was the second defeat this season in an opening match for the
formerly invincible Federer, who went out to Andy Murray in three
sets in early March in the first round in Dubai.
Simon could not believe what he had done.
'I don't know what to think,' the 23-year-old said. 'This is just
unbelievable to beat Roger like this. I was really tight at the
beginning, but then I had a nice sensation from the baseline. I
played my tennis and fought on every point.'
Second-seeded Nadal emerged victorious in his first match since
winning Wimbledon, overcoming American Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-2.
Players had to spend a frustrating day waiting for six hours to go
on court as heavy rain soaked the event. The only match that began on
time got in a mere two games before the bad weather arrived.
Nadal's win was his 25th in a row dating to Rome in May as he
improved to 12-2 in Canada at the event where he won his first
hard-court title.
Levine, born in Canada but now based in Florida, stood little
chance with a 123 ranking, but the underdog gave the seed an early
fright by going up a break and forcing Nadal to recover from 1-3 down.
Nadal broke twice in each set to ice the win and move into
Thursday's third round against Igor Andreev, who put out 16th-seeded
Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
'He started playing very well,' Nadal said. 'He was very inside
the court with aggressive play and amazing shots, but after a few
games, I started feeling the ball a bit better.
'It wasn't my best match obviously. ... Hopefully I'll play better
tomorrow.'
Four other seeds advanced with number four Nikolay Davydenko
putting out German Tommy Haas 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) and David Ferrer beating
American Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-4.
Seventh seed James Blake recovered to overhaul Swede Jonas
Bjorkman 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Richard Gasquet, the number 10, got another
win for France as he defeated Russian Andrey Kudryavtsev 7-5, 6-3.
USA
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