Roger Federer braved dust storm conditions to blow past Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-4 and open his week with a second-round victory at the Rome Masters on Wednesday. The World No.2 came good on his hope of playing in Rome the week after winning in difficult conditions on the controversial slick blue clay of Madrid.
Federer, 30, winner of titles in seven of his last 10 events dating to last November, left it late to actually decide on playing Rome, hoping that his body would give him indications of how he was holding up after Madrid. He evidently got the right answer with his victory, bolstered by 16 winners in the first set and success on 12 of the last 15 points of the afternoon.
In women's play, Li Na moved on to the third round beating Iveta Benesova 6-1, 7-5 but third seed Agnieszka Radwanska fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to Petra Cetkovska. US Open champion and fifth seed Samantha Stosur put out Italian Sara Errani 6-3, 7-5, while sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki fell to Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, with the Dane retiring injured trailing 6-4, 4-0.
In another upset, Julia Goerges powered past seventh-seed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1.
German 12th seed Angelique Kerber defeated American Vania King 6-3, 6-2, while Sorona Cirstea of Romania beat Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1.
Important results:
Men: Second round: Richard Gasquet bt Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-2.
Gilles Simon bt Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Juan Monaco bt Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-2; Juan Martin del Potro bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-2; Roger Federer bt Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-4; Tomas Berdych bt Lukas Kubot 6-4, 6-1; Nicolas Almagro bt Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-2; Marcel Granollers bt Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4.
Novak Djokovic bt Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-3; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2; Andy Murray bt David Nalbandian 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
Women: Second round: Dominika Cibulkova bt Karin Knapp 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Chanelle Scheepers bt Marina Erakovic 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Serena Williams bt Nadia Petrova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Ana Ivanovic bt Sílvia Soler-Espinosa 6-2, 6-1.
Na Li bt Iveta Benesova 6-1, 7-5; Petra Cetkovska bt Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Flavia Pennetta bt Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3; Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 4-0 retired; Julia Goerges bt Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1; Angelique Kerber bt Vania King 6-3, 6-2; Sorana Cirstea bt Sophie Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1; Samantha Stosur bt Sara Errani 6-3, 7-5. First round: Marina Erakovic bt Sabine Lisicki 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3; Serena Williams bt Galina Voskoboeva 6-2, 6-3; Venus Williams bt Simona Halep 6-3, 6-4.
Keywords: Rome Masters