Roger Federer Takes It to the Next Level

B Roger Federer didn't lose much time on the Centre Court at Roland Garros in the second round. The Swiss finished Columbian Alejandro Falla with a convincing 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, proving everybody that the Rafael Nadal is going to be the only man to beat this year. After some great performances on clay this year, Federer didn't let anyone down, ending the match before the rain messed up the French Open schedule on Wednesday.


Everyone knew it was going to be an easy win after the first set, since it only took 20 minutes of the spectators' time. Thanks to his 41 wins, Federer moved up into the third round, setting up his first true test on clay against Chilean Nicolas Massu. The South American finished off Belarus' Max Mirnyi earlier on Wednesday.

"I'm happy to get through. It's not easy to come on and off. You always hope your game is still there and it hasn't left you. I was always in control of the match. I could play very freely which was a nice feeling to have because the first round was more difficult. I'm just happy I finished the match today," said the Swiss champion after the game.

Chasing his first Grand Slam win at Paris, Federer had a pretty difficult first round, against Argentine Diego Hartfield, but is now confident in the matches to come.

Another Argentine favorite had to step up to the challenge of reaching the third round, after beating young French - crowd favorite - Richard Gasquet. After taking the first set 6-2, David Nalbandian failed to provide in the second set, losing it 6-3. He then came back with a struggling 3rd set performance (7-5), and finished it in style in the 4th (6-0).

Nalbandian will meet either Dimitri Tursunov or Tim Henman in the third round. Momentarily, the Russian is beating Henman 6-3, 6-2 after the game got postponed for later today.