Federer moves on at Madrid

Oct 15, 2008 - 11:37 PM MADRID, Spain (Ticker) -- Roger Federer shook off the rust to improve his outstanding record at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Masters.

Playing in his first ATP match in over a month, Federer grinded out a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) victory Wednesday over Radek Stepanek in the second round of the Masters Series tournament.

The world No. 2 and the second seed in this hardcourt event, Federer had not played a tour match since defending his title at the U.S. Open.

The Swiss superstar looked fresh Wednesday, firing 10 aces against only one double fault to improve to 15-3 lifetime in this tournament and avenge an earlier loss this season to Stepanek.

"I thought I actually moved OK, I had a good spring in my step," Federer said. "You can always serve a bit better, but my feeling out there was positive and confident, which was a good thing to have in the first round, which tend to be tricky."

After using an early break to win the opening set, Federer outlasted Stepanek by breaking the Czech native on the 13th point of the second-set tiebreak.

Stepanek finished with eight aces and two double faults in the match that lasted 1 hour, 29 minutes. The 29-year-old Stepanek defeated Federer in the Rome Masters this season, one of the 13-time Grand Slam champion's 12 losses this year.

The runner-up here last season and the 2006 champion, Federer moved on to a third-round match with No. 16 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over Marcel Granollers earlier Wednesday.

"He seems to be enjoying the tour. He's a great character for the game," Federer said of Tsonga. "I'm happy he won today so I get a chance to play him."

The player who beat Federer in the final last year, David Nalbandian also moved through the second round via a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, win over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

The seventh-seeded Argentine comes into this event fresh off claiming his ninth career title on Sunday in Stockholm.

"I think it went well," Nalbandian said. "I played a good match. At the beginning of the second set, I lost control of the ball and my timing was off. After that, I played at a great level. In general, I'm very happy with my performance today."

Nalbandian also had the tournament of his life here last season, defeating the world's top three players - Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Federer - in consecutive matches en route to the title.

His third-round match will be intriguing, as upstart countryman Juan Martin del Potro awaits. The 20-year-old, who has won four titles since the start of July, advanced when Jarkko Nieminen retired while trailing 6-2, 4-2.

"(It's going to be) difficult (playing del Potro)," Nalbandian said. "He's been playing very well this year. He's demonstrated his potential, so I will be expecting a very hard match."

Lacking any of the success here that Nalbandian has, eighth seed Andy Roddick took his first step to improve that with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain's Tommy Robredo.

It was the ninth win in as many career meetings with Robredo for the American, who never has made it past the third round in four previous appearances.

American qualifier Robby Ginepri posted the stunner of the day, ousting fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. In losing to the 63rd-ranked Ginepri, Davydenko continued a trend of baffling upsets.

The 14-time champion has dropped eight matches to players ranked outside the top 40 this season, including a loss to then-No. 130 Gilles Muller in the fourth round of the U.S. Open.

Davydenko was not the only big name to falter, however, as No. 6 David Ferrer dropped a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) decision to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

Twelfth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez also made an unexpected exit as unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils came away with 6-3, 6-4 win.

Lopez will next face No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka while Monfils will square off against Roddick.

There was no surprise for Djokovic, who advanced to the third round when Victor Hanescu of Romania retired from their match while trailing, 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (8-6), 3-1.

Up next for the third-seeded Serb is No. 14 Ivo Karlovic, a 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (10-8) winner against Sweden's Robin Soderling.

A native of Croatia, Karlovic blasted 24 aces in the victory and improved his ATP-leading total in that category to 889.

First prize is just over $490,000.