Federer Eyes French Open Title

Swiss maestro Roger Federer opened his bid for his first French Open title with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over American Michael Russell in a first round match yesterday which was delayed from Monday due to rain.

Federer, who was leading 6-4, 4-1 overnight, needed one hour and 45 minutes to crash his American opponent, firing six aces and winning 15 out of 21 net approaches on day three at the clay court Grand Slam in Paris.

The 25-year-old world number one will be up against French wild card Thierry Ascione, who overcame qualifier Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in 93 minutes.

The Swiss is bidding to become the first No. 1 seed to win the Roland Garros title since Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil won his third crown in 2001. He made his first appearance in the French capital as a wild card in 1999 and last year he finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal of Spain in a four-set final.

Two other top 10 players, 7th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and Spanish 9th seed Tommy Robredo also sealed the deal after they had weather-delayed matches.

Ljubicic avoided his 16th first round exit at a major championship by knocking out French favorite Arnaud Clement 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(2) while the 25-year-old Robredo cruised past Argentine Sergio Roitman 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 56 minutes.

In other match ups, Australian Lleyton Hewitt, Argentine David Nalbandian, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and Russians Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov also scored opening wins.