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Federer, Roddick, Nadal advance
Defending champion Roger Federer breezed past Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup on Thursday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: August 11, 2007 09:17 AM IST
Read Time:3 min
Montreal:
The Swiss star, who won his fifth straight Wimbledon title this year, has won 14 straight matches at the Canadian tournament. He's had victories in 2004 and 2006 and sat out in 2005 with an injury.
"By the time I sat down, I was (only) kind of starting to get warm, because 18 minutes is really fast, you know," the top seed said. "And the games were going quick, my service games, especially.
"And I knew that if I could just press a little bit more in the beginning of the second set, that would be it. So I was happy it all went my way, and that I didn't have to struggle too much out there."
Andy Roddick had little trouble beating Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-3. He will face third-seeded Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Rafael Nadal downed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, setting up a quarterfinal meeting with Frank Dancevic.
Dancevic became the first Canadian in 18 years to reach the quarterfinals of Canada's top tennis tournament with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Fernando Verdasco.
"I think it was the most incredible experience of my life," Dancevic said. "The first set, I was doubting myself. I didn't know what was going on and I wasn't playing well."
Fognini, ranked 139th in the world, reached the third round with a victory over Peter Polansky followed by an upset of 13th-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, but was overmatched by Federer.
"In normal, actually perfect, conditions today, and playing a solid match against a youngster, that was an excellent match," Federer said. "But it's going to be different the next match, so I'll have to adapt. But I hope I can keep this level of play, because if I play like this, I think I'm in good shape."
Federer will face Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, who eliminated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-7 (10), 7-6 (6), 7-5 Thursday in a match that lasted more than three hours. Federer is 11-7 against Hewitt and has won their last nine meetings.
"I haven't really thought about (facing Federer), I'm just happy to get out of jail today," Hewitt said. "It's going to be another interesting match. I haven't played him for quite a while now. It's a good challenge for me and obviously I don't have a lot to lose out there."
Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia also advanced, while Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic upset 12th-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Djokovic, who has three tournament wins this year, ousted David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-2, 6-3. Nalbandian was a Rogers Cup finalist in 2003.
Davydenko posted a 7-6 (8), 6-3 victory over fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhn. Davydenko dropped the first game to open the second set, but broke back to tie the set 2-2 and then coasted to his third win in as many meetings with the 14th-seeded Youzhny.
Davydenko said this week he is playing with a stress fracture in his left foot, which caused him to retire from a match with Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina at Poland last week.
That loss is under investigation by the ATP because of suspicious betting patterns. Davydenko has denied any wrongdoing.
Defending champion Roger Federer breezed past Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup on Thursday.The Swiss star, who won his fifth straight Wimbledon title this year, has won 14 straight matches at the Canadian tournament. He's had victories in 2004 and 2006 and sat out in 2005 with an injury.
"By the time I sat down, I was (only) kind of starting to get warm, because 18 minutes is really fast, you know," the top seed said. "And the games were going quick, my service games, especially.
"And I knew that if I could just press a little bit more in the beginning of the second set, that would be it. So I was happy it all went my way, and that I didn't have to struggle too much out there."
Andy Roddick had little trouble beating Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-3. He will face third-seeded Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Rafael Nadal downed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, setting up a quarterfinal meeting with Frank Dancevic.
Dancevic became the first Canadian in 18 years to reach the quarterfinals of Canada's top tennis tournament with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Fernando Verdasco.
"I think it was the most incredible experience of my life," Dancevic said. "The first set, I was doubting myself. I didn't know what was going on and I wasn't playing well."
Fognini, ranked 139th in the world, reached the third round with a victory over Peter Polansky followed by an upset of 13th-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, but was overmatched by Federer.
"In normal, actually perfect, conditions today, and playing a solid match against a youngster, that was an excellent match," Federer said. "But it's going to be different the next match, so I'll have to adapt. But I hope I can keep this level of play, because if I play like this, I think I'm in good shape."
Federer will face Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, who eliminated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-7 (10), 7-6 (6), 7-5 Thursday in a match that lasted more than three hours. Federer is 11-7 against Hewitt and has won their last nine meetings.
"I haven't really thought about (facing Federer), I'm just happy to get out of jail today," Hewitt said. "It's going to be another interesting match. I haven't played him for quite a while now. It's a good challenge for me and obviously I don't have a lot to lose out there."
Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia also advanced, while Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic upset 12th-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Djokovic, who has three tournament wins this year, ousted David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-2, 6-3. Nalbandian was a Rogers Cup finalist in 2003.
Davydenko posted a 7-6 (8), 6-3 victory over fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhn. Davydenko dropped the first game to open the second set, but broke back to tie the set 2-2 and then coasted to his third win in as many meetings with the 14th-seeded Youzhny.
Davydenko said this week he is playing with a stress fracture in his left foot, which caused him to retire from a match with Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina at Poland last week.
That loss is under investigation by the ATP because of suspicious betting patterns. Davydenko has denied any wrongdoing.
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Nikolay Davydenko
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