Federer roars through in Monte Carlo clay debut

Roger Federer

MONACO, (Reuters) – Roger Federer boasted he could  finish a point at will as he reminded the tennis world of his  destructive power with a 6-2 6-1 rout of Philipp Kohlschreiber  in the Monte Carlo Masters second round yesterday.

Roger Federer

All the talk in the buildup to the first men’s claycourt  tournament of the year had been about the in-form Novak Djokovic  and his recent domination of world number one Rafael Nadal.

But record 16-times grand slam champion Federer took the  chance to lay down a marker and show he is not yet a spent force  by immediately finding his rhythm against German Kohlschreiber  with forehand and backhand.

“It’s clearly a good start for me to the claycourt season,”  the 29-year-old told reporters.

“I was able to do all the things I wanted to. I was  consistent. I could finish a point almost when I wanted to.”

The day had started grey and cold but just as the Swiss  stepped on court the sun burst through the clouds, the stands  filled up and the crowd gave him a superb reception.

MINI WOBBLE

Second seed Federer, who has never won the title here, has  long battled an inferiority complex on clay despite his 2009  French Open title but there was no sign of nerves against the  hapless German apart from a mini wobble late in the first set.  Top seed Nadal starts his quest for a record seventh  straight title in the wealthy principality on Wednesday when he  takes on Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the second round as  stuttering third seed Andy Murray faces Radek Stepanek.

World number two Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the final in  his last two events, is skipping Monte Carlo with a knee injury.

“Nadal will be hard to beat,” added Federer, who could meet  the Spaniard in Sunday’s final at one of the circuit’s most  glitzy events.
“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.”

As soon as Federer had stormed to victory, the clouds rolled  in again but they failed to dampen fifth seed Tomas Berdych’s  spirits as he swatted aside Belgium’s Olivier Rochus 6-2 6-3 in  his second round encounter.

The Czech will face Ivan Ljubicic in the third round after  the Croatian ruined the party on centre court by beating  flamboyant French crowd favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 6-4.

Among first round matches, Frenchman Gilles Simon powered to  a 6-3 6-2 win over Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci and Feliciano Lopez  beat Serb Janko Tipsarevic 4-6 6-3 7-6 to set up a second-round  match with fourth seed David Ferrer today.

The winner of the all-Spanish tie will play Milos Raonic in  round three after he overcame Ernests Gulbis 6-4 7-5.