Federer to face bogeyman Canas

Federer to face bogeyman Canas From Paul Virgo in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 06, 2008

ROGER Federer will face Guillermo Canas in the second round of the Rome Masters after the Argentine beat Italian wildcard Gianluca Naso 6-7 6-3 6-2.

Canas is one of the few players on tour to have a winning record against the world No.1 - triumphing in three of their five clashes - but on a rain-marred opening day in Rome he had to work hard to book a meeting with the Swiss.

After trading breaks midway through the first set, Naso continued to pile on the pressure and eventually bagged the first set 10-8 in the tiebreak.

The Argentine capitalised on Naso’s unforced errors in the second set to get the break and then cruised home.

Federer has a bye to the second round along with Rafael Nadal, who is aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title.

Frenchman Richard Gasquet’s shaky form continued when the No.9 seed was beaten 6-4 6-1 by Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna in the first round.

Gasquet, the only world top 10 player not to have reached an ATP quarter-final this year, fell apart after losing his serve in the seventh game of the first set with two consecutive double faults.

“Today I played maybe my worst match of the year,'’ Gasquet said.

“After I started losing the first set I lost all my confidence and I was really lost on court. Anyone here could have beaten me today.'’

Belgium’s Steve Darcis will meet Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic after edging past Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5 7-6.

Reuters

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