Toronto: Roger Federer launched his North American hardcourt campaign with a workman-like 7-6 6-3 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela to move confidently into the third round of the Toronto Masters on Tuesday.
Twice a champion in Canada, it seemed business as usual for Federer when he strolled onto a packed centre court to the cheers of an adoring crowd.
But while the surroundings were familiar, the situation was not as Federer has surrendered the number one world ranking he held for 285 weeks and entered a tournament as the third seed for the first time since November 2003.
Playing in his first tournament since a shock quarter-final exit at the All-England Club, Federer needed a few games to knock off some rust.
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Winning return
"It's always nice to come back after six weeks and get the win," Federer told reporters. "It's normal that you're a bit rusty after six weeks. You have to work your way into playing matches again."
Federer celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday with cake and talk that his career was on the decline. But if there has been a drop off in Federer's game, there were no signs during the 81 minutes he spent on court against Chela. The 16-time grand slam winner grabbed the early break to go up 4-2. But the Swiss maestro then began to misfire as he sent shots wide and long to let Chela back into the set before prevailing in the tiebreaker.
Federer again took the initiative in the second set with an early break and this time remained in control cursing to a comfortable win.
"I think I really did some good things out there and a bit of a pity I had a letdown at 5-2 up in the first set, because I think I really had things going my way then," said Federer.
"He played well to come back into it and after that I thought I still was able to dominate." Coming off a victory at the Washington Classic, Argentine David Nalbandian carried his superb form into Canada battling past 10th seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5 3-6 6-3.
Hamstring injury
After missing most of last season recovering from hip surgery, Nalbandian was back on the sidelines in April with a hamstring injury that kept him out for two months.The 28-year-old returned to represent Argentina in Davis Cup against Russia last month by winning both matches and has gone undefeated stringing together nine straight victories.
RESULTS
Second round (prefix number denotes seeding):
3-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-6(7) 6-3; 5-Robin Soderling (Sweden) beat Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 4-6 6-4 6-4; 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 6-2 6-4.
First round: Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat Frank Dancevic (Canada) 6-1 6-4; 16-Sam Querrey (U.S.) beat Michael Russell (U.S.) 3-6 6-1 6-4; 9-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) 6-0 5-7 6-2; 15-Gael Monfils (France) beat Somdev Devvarman (India) 7-6(3) 6-3; Michael Llodra (France) beat Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 7-6(6) 7-5; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 2-2 (Tipsarevic retired); Jeremy Chardy (France) beat Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 7-5 2-6 7-6(4); David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat 10-David Ferrer (Spain) 7-5 3-6 6-3; Xavier Malisse (Belgium) beat Michael Berrer (Germany) 7-6(2) 6-2; Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) beat Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (Canada) 6-4 6-4; Viktor Troicki (Serbia) beat 11-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 6-4 7-6(2); Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) beat Philipp Petzschner (Germany) 1-6 6-2 7-6(4); Fabio Fognini (Italy) beat Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-4.
