Mon May 26 14:22:33 2008

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Federer rolls in French opener; rain disrupts Day 2

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Paris, France (Sports Network) - Two-time runner-up Roger Federer was an easy first-round winner at the French Open, while no less than 14 men's matches were either suspended or postponed because of rain Monday at Roland Garros.

The top-seeded/world No. 1 Swiss superstar leveled American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 on Day 2 on the famed red clay here. Federer advanced in 1 hour, 35 minutes with the help of five service breaks. Querrey could manage only one break en route to the predictable defeat.

The 12-time Grand Slam event titlist Federer, who lost to Spanish stalwart Rafael Nadal in the last two finals here, is the reigning five-time Wimbledon and four-time U.S. Open champ. The 26-year-old Swiss still needs the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam.

In other opening-round play involving top-16 seeds, No. 11 Czech Tomas Berdych throttled helpless Aussie Robert Smeets 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 in a mere 67 minutes, and No. 12 Spaniard Tommy Robredo overcame former top-10 star Guillermo Coria 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. Coria, playing in his first major since the 2006 U.S. Open, was the French Open runner-up to fellow Argentine Gaston Gaudio back in 2004.

Upsets came when improving Italian Simone Bolelli took out 17th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and American Wayne Odesnik surprised 29th- seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (10-8). Baghdatis, making his 2008 clay-court debut on Monday, is a former Aussie Open runner-up.

In other action involving seeds, No. 22 Fernando Verdasco struggled to outlast fellow Spaniard Santiago Ventura 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1 and No. 24 Chilean Fernando Gonzalez easily grounded Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Additional wins came for Spaniards Pablo Andujar, Marcel Granollers, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Oscar Hernandez, Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, and Frenchmen Nicolas Devilder and Michael Llodra.

Also on Monday, eighth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet pulled out of the draw, citing a knee injury. Gasquet withdrew shortly before he was set to take on fellow Frenchman Florent Serra, who went on to face and whip Spanish lucky- loser Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Several seeds had their openers washed out on Monday, including a second- seeded Nadal and ninth-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. The reigning three- time French Open champion Nadal will have to wait until Tuesday to face Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci, while Wawrinka will meet German Philipp Kohlschreiber on Day 3.

Also on Tuesday, first-round matches are scheduled for fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, former Roland Garros champion and former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and two-time major titlist and former top-ranked star Lleyton Hewitt. Davydenko, fresh off his clay-court title in Austria last week, will tangle with 2002 Aussie Open champion Thomas Johansson.

The 2008 French Open champion will collect more than $1.5 million.