Roger Federer shook off the rust of a six-week break on Saturday, his smooth progress into the third round at Indian Wells a marked contrast to turmoil in the women’s draw.
Two of the top three women’s seeds crashed out of the second round on Saturday — second-seeded Jelena Jankovic and third-seeded Elena Dementieva.
Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 42nd in the world, stunned Jankovic 6-4, 6-4.
PHOTO: AP
It was another setback for the Serbian, who finished last year ranked No. 1 in the world but has now fallen to No. 3.
“I’m excited,” said Pavlyuchenkova, a former junior world No. 1. “As long as you win you’re happy. But I tried not to be very overexcited, because I still have to continue in this tournament.”
Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska ousted Dementieva 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 6-1. The fourth-ranked Russian blamed fatigue, saying early season success that included titles at Sydney and Auckland and a semi-final appearance in the Australian Open had taken a toll.
In all, 15 of the 32 seeded women failed to make it out of the second round.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic, the fifth seed, avoided the trend, defeating Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-4, 6-3 to join top-seeded Russian Dinara Safina in the third round.
Seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland also advanced, beating Australian Samantha Stosur 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Federer’s decision to take a break, rest his ailing back and get in some quality practice paid dividends.
The world No. 2, playing for the first time since losing an emotional five-set final to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, defeated France’s Marc Gicquel 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
Federer, who won three titles in a row at Indian Wells from 2004 to 2006, didn’t face a break point against the 52nd-ranked Frenchman, breaking him in the seventh game of the second set to seize the advantage and finishing off the match with his 12th ace.
Federer, seeded second behind Nadal and ahead of defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, said the time off after Melbourne had done him a world of good.
“I had to put in an incredible effort to get back to my level after being sick at the beginning of last year,” said the Swiss, who was hampered early last year by glandular fever and was toppled from the world No. 1 spot by Nadal in August.
Fourth-seeded Briton Andy Murray also made a winning return to action after battling a virus that sidelined him last month.
Murray, ranked fourth in the world, booked a third-round berth with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Albert Montanes.
Murray shook off an early break in the opening set and earned the lone break in the second set in the eighth game to serve for the match.
“I thought I moved great, best I had moved in quite a while,” said Murray, who was forced to withdraw from the quarter-finals in Dubai with a mystery virus that also caused him to miss Britain’s Davis Cup tie against Ukraine.
“I feel fine,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I was too out of breath after long rallies. I felt like I could have gone for at least another 45 minutes or so.
Eighth-seeded Gilles Simon of France advanced, downing Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Lu broke to lead 4-2 in the third set and led 30-0 before dropping his serve in the next game. Simon then broke Lu again for a 5-4 lead and held on to claim the match.
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