Federer defies drizzle to advance at Estoril tennis

ESTORIL (Portugal)—Roger Federer plowed through tricky light rain to impose his game on Victor Hanescu, earning a 6-3, 6-2 win into the quarter-finals of the Estoril Open on Thursday.
With conditions at their worst, the top seeded took his cue to get the job done, dispatching the number 68 from Romanian in 59 minutes. The first set was played in the wet while the weather cooperated in the second as the Swiss rode home the win.
Federer, playing the small event for the first time as he prepares for Roland Garros during an abbreviated spring season, was watched by his new coaching brain trust headed by Spain’s Jose Higueras and Swiss Davis Cup coach Severin Luethi.
Federer is hoping to lift his first title of the season as he begins his clay season after starting 2008 fighting glandular fever. He has Higueras on a trial this week to see how the arrangement might work.
The world number one took an early lead in the drizzle, advancing to 3-1 in the opening set at the Estadio Nacional. Federer clinched the opening set in half an hour with a service winner, then showed he was hoping for a quick afternoon by breaking to start the second set.
Federer reached a comfortable 4-0 and moved into a winning position with three match points in the eighth game. But Hanescu had other plans, saving all three and forcing the Swiss to fire his third ace on a fourth opportunity to get the job done.
In other second-round matches, Czech Jiri Vanek defeated German eighth seed Michael Berrer 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 while Denis Gremelmayr took a win for Germany over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (8/6), 6-1. Women’s second seed Maria Kirilenko reached the last eight with a defeat of Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2. Ukranian Olga Savchuk put out Sweden’s seventh seed Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2.—Agencies