Federer and Nadal remain on collision course
2006-08-09

Category Tennis People Tommy Haas Arnaud Clement Ivan Ljubicic Tim Henman James Blake Richard Gasquet Andy Murray Tomas Berdych Rafael Nadal Roger Federer Lleyton Hewitt

World number one Roger Federer and defending champion Rafael Nadal posted straightforward second round wins on Wednesday to remain on a collision course at the Toronto Masters.

Federer was all business a day after celebrating his 25th birthday, strolling into the third round with a tidy 6-3 6-3 win over Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean while Nadal brushed past Korean qualifier Lee Hyung-taik 6-4 6-3.

Federer and Nadal, the world's two top ranked players, have already met in five finals this year and appear headed for another showdown on Sunday.

The Spaniard and Swiss have dominated the Masters Series capturing 12 of the last 14 events, including the last two Toronto Masters.

Playing in his first event since beating Nadal to claim a fourth Wimbledon title, Federer has shown few signs of rust in his return and needed just 67 minutes to sweep past Grosjean to set up a last 16 clash with Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

Bidding for a 40th career title, Federer broke Grosjean at the first opportunity and that was all the advantage he would need to secure the first set.

In the second Federer again scored the early break only to have the feisty Frenchman answer back to level the set at 1-1.

But Federer would not be rattled, sweeping through the final four games to clinch the match and improve his hardcourt record this season to 30-1.

"It was similar to yesterday -- good," Federer told reporters. "I think I played a little more aggressive, I had some very, very good patches.

"I was really pleased the way I played because he is a tough player."

COBWEBS

Nadal's victory over Lee was not as polished as Federer's performance but the Spaniard was never under any threat from his 85th ranked Korean opponent.

Also seeing his first action since Wimbledon, Nadal has been slower to shake off the holiday cobwebs and can expect a sterner test in the third round on Thursday when he will take on 13th seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

"If he (Berdych) feels 100 percent it is going to be very, very difficult," said Nadal. "I need to play a very good match for a victory.

"Maybe I didn't play my best match today but that is OK. I won, that's the most important thing.

Fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia booked his place in the third round with a 7-6 6-4 win over Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

Fifth seed James Blake, seventh seed Tommy Robredo of Spain, Australian 11th seed Lleyton Hewitt and 16th seed Tommy Haas of Germany were all second round casualties.

Blake, the top-ranked American, was swept aside in just 73 minutes by Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-3 while Argentine Jose Acasuso needed three sets to tame Robredo 2-6 6-3 6-4.

Hewitt was trailing Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-3 3-2 when he was forced to retire after re-aggravating a right knee injury he sustained last week in Washington.

Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, the 15th seed, booked his place in the last 16 with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 win over former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

Andy Murray beat British rival Tim Henman 6-2 7-6, confirming a changing of the guard for British tennis. It was the second time the Britons had faced each other and the 19-year-old Scot lived up to his British number one status by improving his record to 2-0 against his compatriot.