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Rediff.com  » Sports » Federer keen to continue fast start

Federer keen to continue fast start

By Pritha Sarkar in Paris
May 25, 2005 12:29 IST
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Roger Federer barely put a foot wrong during his first French Open match and will be looking to continue in similar fashion when he meets Spain's Nicolas Almagro in the second round on Wednesday.

The Parisian weather caused most problems for the world number one as he launched his title bid and he feels he is in a good position to make an impact in the French capital after his six previous visits all ended in failure.

"You can never be unhappy winning in straight sets. So it was a good start," Federer said after he lost just five games to Dudi Sela on Monday.

"We had to play through sunshine, rain, wind and everything. That was tough… but all in all everything was alright."

Federer will be looking to take a step closer to becoming only the sixth man to win all four Grand Slams at least once and on paper Almagro should not pose much of a threat to the Swiss.

Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, could set up a potentially tantalising third-round encounter with French hope Richard Gasquet if both win on Wednesday.

Nadal will face Belgium's Xavier Malisse and Gasquet takes on Dutchman Peter Wessels.

Despite everyone building up Nadal as the favourite for the title, he was less than impressed with his own Paris debut and is determined to show off his full potential against Malisse.

"I don't think I should be favourite after the way I played [on Monday]," Nadal said.

"I didn't play my best match and hopefully it'll improve next time."

INTIMATE SURROUNDINGS

After winning his last match on the impressive Philippe Chatrier court, defending champion Gaston Gaudio will have to deal with the more intimate surroundings of court number two when he meets Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

In the women's draw, Kim Clijsters should be able to dispatch Slovakia's Ludmila Cervanova without much trouble.

Despite arriving in Paris with a question mark over her fitness after pulling out of Berlin this month with a knee injury, she dropped only one game against American qualifier Meilen Tu in the first round.

Top seed Lindsay Davenport, however, will be keen to see an improvement in her form against Peng Shuai after being stretched to three sets on Monday.

Buoyed by her success in Istanbul last week, Venus Williams is aiming to end her five-year Grand Slam drought with victory.

Before she can even think about contesting a final, though, she has to overcome a tricky match against Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga in the second round.

"My goal as always is to be in the final and hold the trophy," Venus said.

"I have big dreams for this tournament. I'm an experienced player and am used to holding up trophies."

 

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Pritha Sarkar in Paris
Source: REUTERS
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