Tennis, anyone? With drizzle continuing after a one-hour delay, Federer rose from his chair, removed his warmup jacket and went back to work.
A change in the weather Wednesday at the French Open barely slowed Federer, who eliminated Alejandro Falla 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4. The No. 1-ranked Federer calmly endured two weather delays to reach the third round.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here“This is how this game has been played for decades,” he said. “We’re used to walking on and off the court and being flexible about these kind of things.”
After three days of warm sunshine, conditions were damp and cool for the start of round two. There was a third delay of 90 minutes after Federer finished.
Before the rain, No. 2-seeded Venus Williams used her big serve to beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-4. Williams whiffed on a forehand and was often bested in long rallies, but serves at up to 128 mph kept her in control, and she was never broken.
Federer lost serve just once against Falla, at 5-all in the opening set, then broke back and hit four winners in the tiebreaker.
“I thought the first set was good, actually, from both sides,” Federer said. “He really pushed me to come up with something special, which I couldn’t do in the first set, really. I definitely got a little bit lucky to get out of that one.”
From there only rain could slow Federer. The match was stopped for 15 minutes in the second set, and again for an hour in the third before play resumed in a drizzle.
He tweaked his game as an adjustment to the weather.
“The texture of the clay changes drastically when there’s no sun,” he said. “Conditions slow down a lot. ... There are advantages and disadvantages, and you’ve got to use them if you can.”
Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam when he won at Roland Garros last year, is seeking his 17th major title.
No. 5-seeded Robin Soderling won 20 of the first 22 points and went on to beat unseeded American Taylor Dent 6-0, 6-1, 6-1. Soderling, who upset Rafael Nadal last year and then lost to Federer in the final, has dropped only seven games through two matches.
French Open
May 23-June 6, ParisVenus wins again at French, talks about ‘skin’ Vote: What do you think of Venus' outfit? Federer endures one tense set, two rain delaysTennis.com: Strong start for Americans in ParisTennis.com: Day 3 features joy, rage, gloom, moreTennis.com: Nadal will win title | Henin alsoCicma: It'll be Nadal-Federer | Serena vs. HeninInteractive: Top men, women to watchFrench Open schedules, scoreboardOther men’s winners included No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Marin Cilic and No. 11 Mikhail Youzhny.
Dent, a 12th-year pro, won at Roland Garros for the first time in the opening round, but against Soderling his serve deserted him. The American double-faulted eight times and won only 11 points on his first serve.
“That was fun, huh?” Dent said. “I’d be a fool to say that I felt like I was in it at any stage. It would be tough for me to beat the 12-and-under French champion playing that way.”
Soderling remained on course for a Roland Garros rematch against Federer in the quarterfinals.
“I’m feeling good,” Soderling said. “I won two matches pretty easy in straight sets, and I didn’t have to run for many hours on court so far, so I feel fresh.”
Tsonga, France’s best title hope, defeated fellow Frenchman Josselin Ouanna 6-0, 6-1, 6-4. Cilic swept Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and Youzhny rallied past Lukas Lacko 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
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