Federer wins at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS (California)—After an uncharacteristic two-match losing streak, Roger Federer looked a lot more like the world’s best player on Sunday. The top-seeded Federer moved into the third round of the $3.6 million Pacific Life Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Spaniard Guillermo-Garcia Lopez.
Federer, who suffered a semifinal setback to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at the Australian Open, was also upset by Britain’s Andy Murray in the round of 32 at Dubai nearly two weeks ago.
Sunday’s win also helped Federer erase the memory of his second-round loss to Guillermo Canas at this tournament last year. The world No. 1, Federer needed just 68 minutes to dispose of Lopez, using six aces to win 76 percent (22-of-29) of his first-serve points and 79 percent (15-of-19) of his second-serve points.
“I think I was expecting a fairly good match - solid, not too many chances,” Federer said. “I wouldn’t play too risky. … Could have taken many more chances today and could have won even more easily, but the way it went I was very happy. I came up with some nice plays at the moment.”
Awaiting the dominant Swiss righthander will be unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who ousted No. 25 Nicolas Almagro, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2. Murray also advanced to the third round with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
It was a major challenge for the 11th-seeded Murray, who needed nearly two hours before booking his spot in the next round where he will face hard-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, the No. 20 seed.
Murray, who is coming off a quarterfinal appearance in Dubai, reached the third round by converting 5-of-14 break-point chances. The Brit also won 75 percent (30-of-40) of his first serves. Sixth-seeded Andy Roddick, fresh off his second title of the year at Dubai, was unable to sustain his momentum against German Tommy Haas, who defeated the 25-year-old American, 6-4, 6-4. Haas needed just 84 minutes to dispatch Roddick and improved to 7-3 lifetime against Roddick and will meet Fernando Verdasco of Spain, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Victor Hanescu of Romania.
“Today was one of the matches where I won the majority of the important points,” Haas said. “When I broke him a couple times today, I really played some great points, backhand and forehand passing shots and forehand lobs, and that was really the only difference today.”
Another upset took place on the other side of the bracket when Mario Ancic of Croatia ousted 12th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, still seeking his first title of the year, continued his quest with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory over American wild card John Isner.
His win sets up a third-round match with American Mardy Fish, who defeated No. 31 Igor Andreev of Russia, 6-4, 6-3. Seventh-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina needed each one of his 19 aces to hold off Latvian Ernests Gulbis, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4).
Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, the No. 13 seed, advanced with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 win over Gilles Simon of France. He will meet Lleyton Hewitt after the Australian downed American Sam Querrey Sunday night, 6-4, 6-3. Other winners included No. 15 Tommy Robredo, No. 22 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 23 Ivan Ljubicic and No. 29 Radek Stepanek.—Agencies