Federer eases through in Paris
World number two Roger Federer was scarcely troubled as he progressed into the third round of the Paris Masters with a comfortable win over home favourite Richard Gasquet.
The Swiss took just a shade under one hour and nine minutes to see of the former world number seven, with a break of serve in each set enough to ease him to a 6-4 6-4 win.
Federer will play Radek Stepanek in the next round.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Novak Djokovic recovered from a poor start to see off Juan Monaco, while number three seed Andy Murray got past David Nalbandian in three sets.
Djokovic had his serve broken early on but his back with a double break of his own before taken the match 6-4 6-3.
“It was a big difference from last year,” the Serbian told Sky Sports 4 afterwards.
“In 2009 I had a great tournament and it’s good to be back, but I was caught out with the surface and Monaco played a great match.
“I was lucky to get the break back and I gained control of the match.”
Djokovic will now face Michael Llodra, who beat John Isner 6-3 6-4.
Murray had to work a little harder for his victory, coming back from a set down to see off Nalbandian.
The British number one was broken twice in the first set, but broke in the final game of the second before overcoming a wrist problem in the third to take the match 2-6 6-4 6-3.
“It was very difficult, I had to change my game completely. I pretty much served and volleyed for the whole of the second set because I couldn’t win a point from the back of the court,” Murray reflected.
“I changed my tension, sent a few rackets back to the stringer and got them at the end of the second set, and it made a difference.”
Murray will now face Croatia’s Maran Cilic who needed three sets to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4 4-6 6-3.
Also going through was American Andy Roddick who beat Jarko Nieminen 6-1 6-4 to set up a meeting with Ernests Gulbis. Federer’s compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka got the better of 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic, 6-4 6-4 to lay on a clash with Robin Soderling.
The fourth-seeded Swede saw off another home favourite, Gilles Simon in straight sets in the final game of the day.
After taking the first set 6-4, Soderling found top gear in the second and broke Simon three times to take the set 6-0.
Nikolay Davydenko will face the Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych after the Russian saw off Thomaz Bellucci 6-3 6-0, and Valencia Open winner David Ferrer set up a contest with Jurgen Melzer as he beat Italian Fabio Fognini 3-6 6-4 7-6 (6/4).
For his part, Melzer edged out Santiago Giraldo 6-3 7-6 (8/6).
