Tue May 6 12:47:49 2008

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Federer, Roddick roll in Rome openers

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Rome, Italy (Sports Network) - Current world No. 1 Roger Federer and former top-ranked star Andy Roddick were a pair of second-round winners Tuesday at the $3.5 million Italian Masters, a clay-court French Open tune-up.

The top-seeded and two-time Rome runner-up Federer handled gritty Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour, 24 minutes, while a sixth-seeded Roddick doused fellow American Mardy Fish 6-1, 6-4 on Day 2 at Foro Italico. The capable Canas shocked Federer in a couple of Masters Series tournaments last season and actually headed into Tuesday with a winning record (3-2) against the 12-time Grand Slam champ. This, however, marked their first-ever meeting on clay.

Federer, who's now 10-1 on clay this year, reached finals here in 2003 and 2006. The Swiss great lost to Spanish clay-court king Rafael Nadal in a final in Monte Carlo just two weeks ago.

Both Federer and Roddick enjoyed opening-round byes at this Masters Series event. Roddick, who's making his first ATP clay-court appearance of 2008 here, has beaten his good friend Fish in their last eight encounters on tour.

Former Rome titlist Juan Carlos Ferrero was a first-round victor, as the former world No. 1 Spaniard outlasted oft-injured German Nicolas Kiefer 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4. Ferrero, who captured this event in 2001, should have his hands full with a second-seeded Nadal here on Wednesday.

Nadal is the reigning three-time Rome champion and fresh off his fourth straight Barcelona championship last week. Nadal beat Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in last year's Rome finale and is an amazing 103-1 in his last 104 matches overall on his beloved on clay.

In other opening-round play, 14th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo handled Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-1, Argentine Jose Acasuso erased Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2 and Croatian wild card Mario Ancic dismissed Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4.

This week's winner will take home $558,000.