Roger Federer in Indian Wells

For a while on Sunday, it looked like Romanian Victor Hanescu looked a party-spoiler for Roger Federer. The 28-year old Swiss star was awarded the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite Player of the Year Award after his second round match in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Federer also received the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for 2009.

Sunday was a busy day at Indian Wells, highlighted by the top seed’s 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 win over Hanescu. The match was Federer’s first since winning his 16th Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open earlier this year. Hanescu made it interesting by converting on his sixth break point opportunity and working his way to the tiebreaker. He won the set when Federer netted a mid-court volley. Roger made fast work of the third set

Federer will face resurgent Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the third round. The 27th seeded Cypriot has been in good form of late, forcing the Swiss to up his game in the next round. Baghdatis held off Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the first set and then cruised through the second in the 7-6 (7), 6-1 win. Clement collapsed in final set, committing 43 unforced errors.

Sunday was a good day for three Americans. 7th seed Andy Roddick, unseeded James Blake and Michael Russell all advanced to the third round. Roddick dispatched Taipei’s Yen-Hsu Lu 6-4, 6-4. Roddick had difficulty holding serve against Lu, a bad sign for future matches. While Roddick has diversified his game, his serve remains his best weapon.

Blake, Roddick’s doubles partner this week, elevated his game to overcome Spain’s 13th seed, David Ferrer, 6-1, 6-4. For Blake the win was a milestone, snapping the Spaniards seven match win streak. The American converted on three of nine break point opportunities in the 62 minute match. The two veterans had only met once before with Blake emerging the victor in the 2002 match as well.

The 31-year old Russell likes Indian Wells. He reached the fourth round in 2006. This year the American was a heavy underdog to 32 seed Igor Andreev, but sprung an unlikely 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 upset against the Russian. Russell next moves on to challenge the somewhat rusty Brit, Andy Murray.

Murray, the 4th seed, who lost to Nadal in the finals last year, won but was not dominant in his match against Italian Andreas Seppi. After an early knockout in Dubai, Murray was sharper in breaking Seppi four times in the 6-4, 6-4 win. Seppi broke back on two occasions. In the end, it was Murray’s ground game and 20 outright winners that sparked the win.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looked very sharp in putting down Australian qualifier, Marinko Matosevic, 6-1, 6-3. Countryman Gael Monfils was not so fortunate. German Simon Greul sent the struggling Monfils packing in a hard-fought 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 match. Monfils’ inconsistencies have dimmed the star’s ranking.

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