Roger Federer will be returning to his newborn twins earlier than expected after his Italian Open adventure ended with a 1-6 6-3 7-6 second round defeat by Jeremy Chardy yesterday.
Federer had been hoping to get his claycourt form back in gear after skipping last week’s Madrid Open to attend the birth of his twin boys Leo and Lenny but the winner of a record 17 grand slam titles will now be flying back home to his family after his early loss in Rome.
Fourth seed Federer made a promising start but, with dust whipping up off the surface and the ball playing tricks, Chardy fought back with some brutal forehand winners and saved a match point in the tiebreak before sealing victory.
While Federer’s French Open preparations came to an early end, Andy Murray made light of the swirling winds to ease past Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-2 7-5.
The seventh-seeded Briton proved far too solid for his unseeded rival as he set up a third-round clash with Austrian veteran Juergen Melzer.
Murray reeled off four games in a row from 2-2 in the opening set and, apart from losing his opening service game in the second set, he always looked in control.
While not being forced to play his best tennis, it was an impressive opening for Murray, who a year ago at the same tournament retired with a back injury against the same opponent.
“All the dust and stuff was getting in your eyes. It was extremely blustery, strong conditions,” Murray, who is looking to get in some match-time for the French Open, told reporters.
“From one of the ends it was really tough to get any real depth on the ball.”
Melzer beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the three sets.
In the women’s singles, Serena Williams booked her place in the third round after beating Andrea Petkovic 6-2 6-2.
The world no.1, who was forced to withdraw with a thigh injury from her quarter-final clash against Petra Kvitova at the Madrid Open last week, was undecided on whether she would participate in Rome after arriving to Italy on Monday.
However, she kicked off the defence of her crown with a comfortable victory over former top 10 player Petkovic to collect her 10th straight win in Rome.
Other results
Nadal bt Simon 7-6 6-7 6-2; Sharapova bt Puig 6-4 7-5.