Roger Federer made a smooth start to his Cincinnati Masters title bid by beating Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-3 but Rafael Nadal was forced to retire and Novak Djokovic lost on Wednesday.
The Swiss top seed and world number one will next play Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round.
World number two Nadal quit when trailing Argentine Juan Monaco 7-6, 4-1 in their second-round match, citing cramp.
World number 25 Monaco now plays American Sam Querrey, who upset 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Serb Djokovic, was defeated by Spain’s Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-1.
Other results: Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 7-6; James Blake bt Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 6-4; Nicolas Almagro bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4; Lleyton Hewitt bt Richard Gasquet 6-1 3-2 (retd.); Juergen Melzer bt Mario Ancic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6.
Henin advances
World No 1 Justine Henin kicked off her US Open preparations with a routine 6-3, 6-1 win over Slovenia’s Andreja Klepac at the Toronto Cup as Ana Ivanovic’s title defence came to an abrupt end after losing to Chinese qualifier Yan Zi 6-3, 6-1, adds Reuters.
Joining the fourth-seeded Serb at the exit door were Russian fifth and eighth seeds Anna Chakvetadze and Elena Dementieva and Lucie Safarova.
Other results: Francesca Schiavone bt Elena Dementieva 6-7, 6-3, 6-2; Meghann Shaughnessy bt Lucie Safarova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; Virginie Razzano bt Anna Chakvetadze 7-6, 2-0 (retd); Tatiana Golovin bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic bt Marie-Eve Pelletier 6-0, 6-1.
Hesh-Jamie through
Mahesh Bhupathi and his British partner Jamie Murray beat Argentina’s Juan Monaco and Australian Todd Martin 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 10-3 to enter the second round of the ATP Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, adds PTI.
Bhupathi and Murray next face top-seeded Americans, Bob and Mike Bryan, who got a bye. Meanwhile, Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm, seeded fourth in the tournament, received a bye in the first round and will now face the eighth seeded pair of Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle of Austria.
