Top seed takes root in Paris clay

Roger Federer put down roots on the Roland Garros centre court on Thursday with a crowd-pleasing victory over Nicolas Kiefer to reach the Fr...

Roger Federer put down roots on the Roland Garros centre court on Thursday with a crowd-pleasing victory over Nicolas Kiefer to reach the French Open third round.

The world No.1 had never won a match on the Parisian centre stage before but so enthralled was the crowd by his 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 victory, it will be hard for organisers to schedule him anywhere else other than the main arena in future. While far from his best on Thursday — against Kiefer he never had to be — Federer showed enough class for the fans to realise they were witnessing a very special player.

“It was important to get used to the centre court,” he smiled. “I am happy I got through. You know it was okay. But I think I will have to play a little bit better next match.”

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Next up for the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion is a player who made centre court his own, three-times former champion Gustavo Kuerten.

The Brazilian stormed into the third round with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 win over Belgian Gilles Elseneer.

“It will be a great match for the tournament,” Federer said. “If I can get through him that is for me a huge step.”

Federer and Kuerten were joined in the third round by another former world No.1, Lleyton Hewitt, after the Australian beat Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. “I feel pretty confident where my game’s at at the moment,” 12th-seeded Hewitt said. “I feel confident maybe overall more, maybe moving a little bit better on clay this year.”

	Bhupathi-Mirnyi advance

			• New Delhi: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus moved into the second round of men’s doubles at the French Open tennis championship in Paris. The third seeded Indo-Belarussian pair defeated Sebastien de Chaunac and Stephane Robert of France 6-1, 6-4 in their first round match yesterday. Story continues below this ad

In the women’s draw, Venus Williams toiled for an hour and 21 minutes to beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.

The American was in erratic form, losing the first three games, but did enough to set up a last 32 clash with former French Open champion Mary Pierce. Pierce advanced with ease, beating Spain’s Gala Leon Garcia 6-1, 6-1.

Jennifer Capriati also muscled her way through, out-gunning Czech qualifier Kveta Peschke 7-5, 6-3. The American seventh seed, champion here in 2001, was pushed to three sets in her opening round win over Ukraine’s Yulia Beygelzimer and needed a timely break at 4-5 to avoid losing the opening set against Peschke.

Capriati is on course for a quarter-final showdown with second seed Serena Williams and will play either Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany or Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the third round. (Reuters)