Federer ekes out Monte Carlo win

MONTE CARLO, Monaco, April 23 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Roger Federer rallied from the edge of defeat Wednesday for a second-round win at the $3.57 million Masters Series Monte Carlo tennis tournament.

Federer was down 1-5 in the third set and qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo had him two points from elimination before Federer rebounded and won 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1).

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, a three-time defending champion in the clay-court event, had an easier time in his match Wednesday, pasting Mario Ancic, 6-0, 6-3. He won the first eight games in running his Monte Carlo winning streak to 16 matches.

No. 8-seeded Mikhail Youzhny retired after falling behind 6-3 to Igor Andreev and 11th-seeded Juan Monaco failed to continue after trailing Nicolas Almagro while No. 15 Ivo Karlovic dropped a 7-6 (10-8), 6-1 decision to Gael Monfils.

The rest of the seeded players played to form Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Simone Bolelli, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); No. 5 David Ferrer swept by Marat Safin, 6-2, 6-3; sixth-seeded David Nalbandian beat Olivier Rochus, 6-4, 6-3; and seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Kristof Vligen. Also, 12th-seeded Tommy Robredo held off Robin Soderling, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), and 13th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero brushed aside Finn Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-3.

Other winners Wednesday were Sam Querrey, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Janko Tipsarevic.