World No. 1 Roger Federer admitted he had few problems as he outclassed Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets at the Hamburg Masters Series on Wednesday.
The Swiss master needed less than an hour to see off his opponent 6-1, 6-3 and in the 18 sets the pair have now contested, during their nine previous matches, Nieminen has yet to win a single one.
“It was a good performance, I was happy with the way I served from the baseline,” said Federer, who beat main rival Rafael Nadal in last year’s final in Hamburg.
PHOTO: EPA
“I have had so much success here, I have a good feeling about the place. When my first point went straight down the line, I thought ‘This place works well for me,’” he said.
But other seeds fell elsewhere at the Am Rothenbaum stadium on a day of upsets. Seventh seed James Blake was knocked out 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 by Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and 13th-seed Tommy Robredo also crashed out to Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic after losing 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3).
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 14th seed, made a sharp exit when he went down in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 to Sweden’s Robin Soderling.
“I just didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” the Australian Open finalist said. “It’s not been a bad season so far, but I have to keep improving and working on my game.”
But former world No. 1 Marat Safin continued his comeback with a straight-sets win over ninth-seed Tomas Berdych in the second round.
The Russian is building some momentum here having qualified through the main draw. He has plummeted down the rankings to 89th after suffering a series of injuries, but hit four aces on his way to knocking out Berdych, 11th in the world, 7-5, 6-4 in 90 minutes.
The 28-year-old Russian, who was runner-up here in 2000 and 2002, is now on course to meet Carlos Moya in the 3rd round if the Spaniard beats Belgium’s Oliver Rochus in his second-round match.
But there were no problems for Argentinian Juan Monaco, who made it through to the third round after the 12th seed breezed past Italy’s Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-1. He will play another Italian in the third round when he faces Andreas Seppi, who removed French No. 1 and eighth seed Richard Gasquet on Tuesday.
Local hero Nicolas Kiefer reached the Hamburg third round for the first time since 2001 on Wednesday after he beat World No. 10 and last week’s Rome finalist Stanislas Wawrinka 7-5, 7-5 on Center Court. Germany’s Kiefer was to play fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko in the third round yesterday.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to