ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer worked harder than expected in his first clay court match of 2007, defeating Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi 7-6(4), 7-6(6) to reach the third round of Masters Series Monte-Carlo Tuesday. Federer surrendered a break of serve in both sets before winning in tie-breaks. In the second-set Federer let slip two match points at 6/4 in the tie-break before closing out the match.
Federer, who in 2006 lost to Rafael Nadal in the Monte-Carlo final, improved to a 15-2 record on the year. After winning four ATP Masters Series titles each year for the past two years, Federer is searching for his first Masters Series shield of 2007 following surprise early-round defeats in Indian Wells and Miami.
After squandering five match points in a dramatic 26-point, second-set tie-break, Frenchman Richard Gasquet recovered from within two points of defeat to beat Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-7(12) 7-6(3). Gasquet was in deep trouble in the early and late stages of the third set, but ultimately prevailed in 3 hrs., 20 mins. to set up a second-round meeting with Dominik Hrbaty.
Verdasco opened a 2-0 lead early in the third set and had two game points for a 3-0 lead before Gasquet broke back and ultimately served for the match at 5-4. However, the Frenchman was broken through a combination of scorching Verdasco winners and a poor drop shot from midcourt at 0/15 which found the middle of the net. In his next service game, at 5/6, Gasquet fell behind 0/30 to be within two points of defeat, but a tiring Verdasco failed to deliver the killer blow.
Gasquet reached the semifinals here in 2005, upsetting World No. 1 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Last year the 20-year-old missed the tournament with an abdominal injury. He made his Monte-Carlo debut as a 15-year-old in 2002 and defeated Franco Squillari in the first round.
Spaniard David Ferrer, who has reached the quarterfinals the past two years, dismissed Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1. Ferrer seemed untroubled by the shoulder injury that forced him to withdraw from his hometown event last week in Valencia. He next plays Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Czech Tomas Berdych, seeded tenth, had an easy passage to the second round. Berdych was leading last week's Valencia champion Nicolas Almagro 5-0 when the Spaniard was forced to retire with a back injury. Berdych next plays Benjamin Becker, a 7-6(4), 6-2 winner over Thomas Johansson.
Meanwhile, Russian Marat Safin squandered four match points in the second set tie-break and paid the price against Kristof Vliegen of Belgium, who went on to win 0-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 in two hours and 26 minutes for a place in the third round.
