INDIAN WELLS, California, 16 March 2004 — Top-ranked Roger Federer, the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, cruised past Andrei Pavel 6-1, 6-1 at the ATP WTA Masters Series tournament here on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Swiss native moved to 17-1 in 2004, including four victories this year over Romania’s Pavel.
“I felt good from the start of the match and as it went on I started to hit more freely,” said Federer.
“I feel much more confident when I walk on the court and the more confidence you have then the more risks you take.”
Two-time Indian Wells champion Lindsay Davenport, 19-year-old Russian sixth seed Vera Zvonareva and 19th seed Nathalie Dechy of France advanced in straight sets on the women’s side of the draw.
American Laura Granville beat second seed Kim Clijsters in a walkover after Clijsters withdrew on Saturday with a wrist injury. Federer moved on in the $4.9 million hard-court tournament to face Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez in the third round.
Federer hit five aces to Pavel’s one and smashed 27 winners, 18 more than Pavel, who struggled with 18 unforced errors and made three double faults.
Federer, who received an opening-round bye in the 96-player field, expected a tougher match from Pavel. Earlier this year in Romania, they played a three-setter on clay in Davis Cup.
Top seed Federer now has a 7-1 career record against Pavel, dating to their first encounter in Hamburg, Germany four years ago. “He knows more about my game,” said Federer. “I wasn’t expecting a match like today. Mentally he was not as strong as he normally is.”
Indian Wells is not a tournament where Federer has had a lot of success. He was eliminated in the round of 16 last year.
“This was my first win on centre court here. So that’s nice,” he said.
Federer has been the hottest player on the ATP Tour in the past 12 months, winning seven titles. He won the 2003 Wimbledon to become the first Swiss male to capture a Grand Slam title. He then beat Russia’s Marat Safin in the 2004 Australian Open final for his second Grand Slam.
Since his Grand Slam titles, Federer’s popularity has skyrocketted.
“I have to mentally prepare now when I walk out of the house,” he said.
Andy Roddick left was prepared for his match on Sunday with fellow American Jan-Michael Gambill. The 21-year-old third seed blasted 21 aces in a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory.
“I felt like I was getting into his service games,” said Roddick, who had lost two of his three previous meetings with Gambill.
Gambill had 23 unforced errors to just 10 by Roddick.
Roddick booked a third-round date with Safin in a repeat of their five-set quarterfinal thriller at the Australian Open.
Roddick and Safin, who won the Australian match, landed in the same side of the draw along with Brit Tim Henman and Spaniard Alex Corretja.
Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal, Max Mirnyi of Belarus and France’s Sebastien Grosjean also advanced on Sunday.
They were joined in the next round by Argentine fourth seed Guillermo Coria who beat Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian 6-3, 6-4.
Davenport, making her 11th appearance at Indian Wells, defeated Australia’s Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.
Davenport is seeking her 40th WTA career singles title and is 12-1 in 2004.
