By DPA
Indian Wells, (California) : World number one Roger Federer returned to his best with a 6-3, 6-2 winning performance over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Indian Wells Masters to bury a two-match loss streak.
The 26-year-old Swiss Sunday re-established order with his victory against the number 62 Spaniard and also showed that his fitness is no longer a concern after a bout of mononucleosis.
Federer won his 22nd match at Indian Wells against four losses, one of which came last year in the second round against Guillermo Canas.
“I won three titles here against quality opponents (2004-2006) and I had the loss a year ago,” said Federer. “But I feel back on my game now.”
World number six Andy Roddick became the highest seed to fall but kept his cool after a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Tommy Haas a week after winning in Dubai.
Roddick admitted that he was out-played by the German, with Haas standing 7-3 in their series. The normally volatile American remained calm in the second-round defeat, convinced that his game is on the right path.
“I don’t feel like I hit the ball badly, I maybe didn’t play as well as I should have on the points I should have won well on,” Roddick said.
“Whenever that happens and someone is in form and plays a good match, you’re going to get beat.
“But I’ve been playing very, very well for the last month, and so I’m not going to freak out over this loss and forget everything I’ve been able to work towards in the last month.
“My confidence is fine. I feel fine and I feel optimistic about the tournaments coming up,” he said
Number 36 Haas returned to tennis last month after a third shoulder surgery and had won just three matches from seven played before this weekend.
But memories of consistent previous success against Roddick came to the fore, with the 29-year-old breaking twice and limiting Roddick to just six aces.
Four more seeds moved through into the third round, with wins for David Nalbandian (seventh), Murray (11th), Mikhail Youzhny (13th) and Tommy Robredo (15th).
Murray, who rallied past Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, has had a patchy season, winning two titles and losing twice in the first round.
The Scot dismissed his slow start and plans for improvement as he next faces towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic, a winner over Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).
Women’s second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova paced that side of the draw.
Kuznetsova needed to go the distance to stop Slovak Domenika Cibulkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while Sharapova beat Eleni Daniilidou 7-5, 6-3.
“It was a very scratchy match from my side today from the beginning,” said Sharapova, now 16-0 on the season.
“I was just not seeing the ball, not moving that great. She always plays tough, because you never really know what to expect from her.”
For two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo, things continued to be unfavourable. The Frenchwoman whose game has not been the same for a year due to surgery and injury, lost to 15th seed Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-2.