Federer advances at Rogers Cup
Polansky the lone Canadian remaining in singles competition
Last Updated: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 | 11:57 PM ET
By John F. Molinaro and Kristina Rutherford, CBC Sports
Roger Federer of Switzerland serves against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina on Tuesday. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)Two-time Rogers Cup champion Roger Federer is off to a winning start.
The Swiss star notched a 7-6, 6-3 second-round victory over Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela in Toronto on Tuesday in front of an appreciative centre-court crowd.
Federer, ranked No. 3 in the world, is making his return to tennis after a six-week break since a disappointing quarter-final loss at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
But he didn't exhibit the same dominance that tennis fans are used to. Chela broke Federer late in the first set to force a tiebreak.
The 29-year-old Federer had less trouble in the second set, earning two service breaks to close out the match.
"I thought it was a good match, overall," Federer said. "It's always nice to come back after six weeks and get the win. I think that's what counts the most tonight. It's normal that you're a bit rusty after six weeks."
And unlike a day earlier, when wildcard Canadians upset some of the world's best — including knocking Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic out of the doubles bracket — there weren't any big home-court wins Tuesday.
Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., lost 6-1, 6-4 to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka on Tuesday night, a match that featured the crowd chanting "Go Frank Go," and cheering loudly every time he scored a point.
Dancevic, 25, reached the quarter-final of the tournament in Montreal back in 2007. He is coming off back surgery that sidelined him for nine months and he's currently ranked No. 417.
"It was my first match against a top player this year, coming back from injury," Dancevic said. "And from the first set, I felt it was tough for me to get into the match."
Wawrinka, No. 24, earns a second-round date with No. 1 seed Nadal of Spain.
Dancevic's elimination means Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., is the only Canadian still in the singles draw.
Raonic and Pospisil's run ends
Earlier Tuesday, Pierre Ludovic-Duclos of Sainte-Foy, Que., lost to Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-4, 6-4.
In second-round doubles action Tuesday afternoon, Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver 6-2, 6-4. The Canadians had made headlines Monday night when they upset Nadal and Djokovic, the No. 1 and 2 players in the world.
They weren't able to repeat the magic Tuesday.
"They obviously knew about our match yesterday and they didn't really take us lightly," Raonic said. "They are, obviously, a very good team — they won Wimbledon this year — and they've been playing well."
Advancing to the third round earlier Tuesday were Tomas Berdych and fifth-seeded Robin Soderling.
The seventh-seeded Berdych of the Czech Republic needed only 90 minutes to defeat Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-4 in a second-round match at York University.
"These are the best moments," said Berdych, who lost to Nadal in the final at Wimbledon.
"If you have money, you can buy whatever you want, but these — the memories from the tennis — are really nice. This is the reason why you are doing this sport."
Sweden's Soderling dropped his first set to No. 28-ranked Ernests Gulbis of Latvia but came back to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-4.
Soderling made good on his third break opportunity of the third set to go ahead 5-4 and serve out the match.
The Rogers Cup, being staged at the Rexall Centre on the York University grounds, has a deep field, with eight of the top 10-ranked singles players competing at the $2.43-million event.
In first-round singles results Tuesday:
- Serbia's Viktor Troicki beat Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-4, 7-6 (2).
- Italy's Fabio Fognini defeated Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.
- Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine beat Germany's Philipp Petzschner 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
- Belgium's Xavier Malisse beat Germany's Michael Berrer 7-6 (2), 6-2.
- Argentina's David Nalbandian beat Spain's David Ferrer 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
- Jeremy Chardy of France beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cypress 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (4).
- Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 2-2, retired.
- France's Michael Llodra beat Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 7-6 (6), 7-5.
- American Sam Querrey beat American Michael Russell 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Second-round singles results:
- Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine 6-2, 6-4.
First-round doubles results:
- Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-3, 6-7 (3), 10-2.
- Sweden's Robert Lindstedt and Romania's Horia Tecau beat Spain's David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 4-6, 11-9.
