Top seed Roger Federer cruised into the second round of the ATP ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament with a straight-sets victory over Grega Zemlja.
The Swiss world number two, seeking a third title in Rotterdam, needed just 58 minutes to see off his Slovenian opponent 6-3 6-1, and will next face Dutch wild card Thiemo de Bakker. Fourth seed Richard Gasquet also eased into round two with a 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 triumph over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, while Gasquet’s fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon, seeded five, became the first man through the quarter-finals by winning his second-round clash with Italian qualifier Matteo Viola 6-3 6-1.
There was not such smooth progress for Andreas Seppi, however, as Germany’s Matthias Bachinger prevailed 6-3 6-4 against the Italian sixth seed.
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis was leading Benoit Paire 6-0 6-7 (3/7) 4-0 when the Frenchman retired ill during their first-round encounter.
Frenchman Julien Benneteau crushed Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-1 6-3 in round two, and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria also advanced to the last eight by overcoming Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko 7-5 6-3 in the day’s final match.
