Federer And Roddick On Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Top seeds Roger Federer and Andy Roddick completed the first part of what promised to be an exhausting day at the 2.56-million-dollar Masters Series as both reached the third round.

The workload was only the beginning for world number one Federer and his second-seeded American rival, with another round to be completed before the end of a long day of catch-up matches due to Tuesday’s washout.

Federer dismissed Swedish teenager Robin Soderling 7-5, 6-1 while Roddick saw off Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

The Swiss star proved to be untouchable in 64 minutes as he won with a 13th ace after notching 25 winners.

“Winning the first set gave me confidence,” Federer said of the early struggle against the 50th-ranked Soderling.

“It was tough, but I think his level dropped a bit in the second. It was a question of confidence.

“Everything went quickly in the second set. I played better on the big points, that made the difference.”

Roddick maintained his current crown of the tie-break king as he won his 15th of 16 to brush past Lopez, which moved him into a match against Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

Roddick is now 23-6 in deciders this season, losing his last one at Roland Garros two months ago.

“I’m happy to win in two sets,” said the defending champion. “I was hitting my spots well.”

In a major upset, three-time champion Andre Agassi was derailed in a second-round defeat by an Austrian outsider Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-3.

Agassi admitted he was far off his game, though the hip problem which kept him out of Wimbledon (news - web sites) and which has limited his playing schedule was not a factor.

“I was uncomfortable, he was comfortable,” said the 34-year-old. “It seemed to stay that way. He did a lot of things well today, he played much better than I did.”

Melzer won the first eight points of the match to set the tone of the tie. “The ball was flying off the racket today,” said Agassi, who won the pair’s last meeting in 2003. “It was quicker out there. My problem out there was my opponent today. Unless I could change the dynamic of what was happening, not a lot was going to change. I pretty much got what I deserved.” Spain’s fourth seed Carlos Moya defeated America’s Alex Bogomolov 6-4, 6-3, while Brazil’s former world number one Gustavo Kuerten put out Britain’s Tim Henman, the fifth seed, 7-5, 6-4. “All credit to him, he played the better match today. But of course I’m not devastated, I just wasn”t as sharp as I needed to be. He won because he played the big points well,” said Henman, playing for the first time since Wimbledon. Ninth seed Lleyton Hewitt stepped up his pace a day after beating Rafael Nadal, crushing the Czech Republic’s Jiri Novak 6-2, 6-1 while newly married Max Mirnyi rallied past Thai 14th seed Paradorn Srichaphan 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.