Federer, Nadal march on; Henman bows out
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-26 09:14

World No. 1 Roger Federer and surging Spaniard Rafael Nadal were among the second-round winners, while 2004 semifinalist Tim Henman went by way of the upset Wednesday at the French Open.

Swiss Roger Federer returns the ball to Spanish Nicolas Almagro during their French Open second round at Roland Garros. Federer won 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2. [AFP]

The top-seeded Federer easily dismissed young Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2.

The reigning U.S. Open champion and two-time Wimbledon titlist Federer is fresh off his Hamburg Masters championship two weeks ago and is now a solid 11-1 on clay this season.

Up next for Federer will be 25th-seeded Chilean slugger Fernando Gonzalez, an easy 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 winner against German Tomas Behrend.

Federer could be on a collision course to meet the high-flying Nadal in the semifinals here next week.

The fourth-seeded Nadal captured his 19th straight match victory, all on clay, by whipping Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. Nadal already owns five clay-court titles this year, including big Masters Series shields in Monte- Carlo and Rome.

Nadal will meet fellow 18-year-old Richard Gasquet here on Friday after the 30th-seeded French Gasquet grounded Dutchman Peter Wessels 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 on Day 3. The promising Gasquet shocked the mighty Federer in the Monte-Carlo quarterfinals last month and lost to the "Fed" in the Hamburg Masters final two weeks ago.

The seventh-seeded Henman gave way to Peruvian clay-courter Luis Horna 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4. The serve-and-volleying Henman surprised the tennis world last year by soaring all the way into the semifinals on the red clay here at Roland Garros.

The giant-killer Horna stunned Federer in straight sets in the first round here in Paris two years ago.

Defending Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio and his fellow Argentine David Nalbandian safely moved into the third round.

The fifth-seeded Gaudio reached the round of 32 when Russian Dmitry Tursunov defaulted prior to their match because of a knee injury.

Tursunov withdrew from the year's second Grand Slam event because of a possible cartilage tear in the knee. An MRI revealed the magnitude of the injury that has hampered the Russian for about a week. Tursunov, however, was able to defeat Austrian Stefan Koubek here on Monday.

Gaudio upset fellow Argentine Guillermo Coria in five sets in last year's French Open finale.

Gaudio's third-round opponent will be veteran Spaniard Felix Mantilla.

A 10th-seeded Nalbandian whipped Czech Tomas Berdych in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. The former Wimbledon runner-up Nalbandian was a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year.

In other top-16 action, No. 14 Spaniard Carlos Moya stopped Czech Robin Vik 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1 and No. 16 Czech Radek Stepanek stifled France's Florent Serra 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Other seeded winners were No. 18 Croat Mario Ancic, No. 20 Spaniard David Ferrer and No. 23 Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

Mild upsets came when Mantilla outlasted 26th-seeded Czech Jiri Novak 6-2, 0-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, Romanian Victor Hanescu rubbed out 31st-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 and Korean Hyung-Taik Lee leveled 33rd-seeded Swede Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

One other Day-3 winner was unseeded Spanish veteran Fernando Vicente.

The men's second round will wrap up here with 16 more matches on Thursday, including ones for second-seeded American Andy Roddick, Australian Open champion Marat Safin and the 2004 Roland Garros runner-up Coria.

The 2004 Wimbledon finalist Roddick will battle dangerous Argentine clay- courter Jose Acasuso, while the third-seeded Safin will face Czech Lukas Dlouhy and the eighth-seeded Coria will tangle with Serbian Novak Djokovic. Safin is a flawless 8-0 in Grand Slam activity this year.

Former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero will also be on the Day-4 schedule, as the 32nd-seeded former French Open champ will oppose Czech Jan Hernych. Ferrero titled here in 2003 and was the 2002 runner-up to fellow Spaniard Albert Costa.

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