Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Monte Carlo Masters: Federer cruises into third round

Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Roger Federer



Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Roger Federer


MONACO: The Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer, exhibited his class to thrash Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany by 6-2 6-1 in the second round match of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday.

Until this match, everybody in the tennis world was talking about the latest rivalry of Serb Novak Djokovic and Spanish Rafael Nadal but Federer showed his days of glory have not passed as yet with an absolute combination of forehand and backhand.

Federer looked in a serious mood to prove a point ahead of the first claycourt Grand Slam tournament of the year, French Open, where the Swiss would look to bag his 17 Grand Slam title.

Federer, who has been seeded second in the Monte Carlo Masters, has never won a title here showed his form of 2009 when he clinched the French Open title before going on to win all the four Grand Slams.

With Novak Djokovic missing the Monte Carlo event with a knee injury, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are looking to win the title ahead of the all-important French Open. Nadal, who has won six titles at Monte Carlo, will try to prove a point for the seventh one on Wednesday with the match against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the second round while third seed Andy Murray will take on Radek Stepanek.

Talking about Rafael Nadal, Federer said, “Nadal will be hard to beat. He is clearly the overwhelming favourite even though I haven’t seen him play yet. But I still wouldn’t be happy losing to him in the final.”

In another second round match on Tuesday, fifth seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic made the mockery of Olivier Rochus of Belgium with 6-2 6-3 victory. Berdych will now face Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga by 7-6 6-4 in the second round.