Federer swats Canas away

Roger Federer got by one of his most challenging opponents Tuesday, beating Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Rome Masters.

Roger Federer got by one of his most challenging opponents Tuesday, beating Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Rome Masters.

Canas beat Federer twice early last year and was one of the few players with a winning record against the top-ranked player. The pair are now tied 3-3 in career meetings. “It’s always a tough match against him, so I was happy to win,” Federer said. “I won in Estoril and beat (David) Nalbandian, (Novak) Djokovic and (Gael) Monfils and played a good final against Nadal in Monte Carlo, so I’m on a good run on clay.”

All five of the previous meetings had came on hard courts. This tournament is a key clay-court tune-up for the French Open, which begins May 25. Earlier, Andy Roddick defeated Mardy Fish 6-1, 6-4 in an all-American matchup to get his clay-court season off to a solid start.

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Roddick’s only other match on clay this year was a Davis Cup win over Austria’s Jurgen Melzer in February. In first-round play, 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero rallied past Nicolas Kiefer 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with three-time defending champion Nadal. Also, 14th-seeded Tommy Robredo defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-1 and Jose Acasuso eliminated Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2.

Federer broke to take a 4-2 lead in the first set when Canas double-faulted following a drop-shot winner from Federer. Canas relied on his speed to simply keep the ball in play and force Federer into mistakes. Federer committed 27 unforced errors to 13 for Canas, but led 34-10 in winners.

Federer saved the only break point he faced with a net-cord volley winner midway through the second set, then broke Canas twice to close the match out. Rome is one of three Masters Series events that Federer has never won.