DOHA: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took very different first steps towards what could be the 23rd shoot-out of their famous rivalry Saturday in the Qatar Open. Nadal won comfortably against Karol Beck of Slovakia 6-3, 6-0 but Federer had to survive three successive set points against Thomas Schoorel and to save six break points in all in a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win. Federer also brought the house down just before the end by striking a sensational winner from between his legs, which he described as one of the best shots of his career. Nadal next plays Lukas Lacko who beat Pere Riba 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4) of Spain while Federer will meet countryman Marco Chiudinelli who won 3-6, 7-6(7-3), 6-3 over Reda El Amrani of Morocco. Serbia downs Australia Novak Djokovic comfortably handled Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-4 as Serbia stayed unbeaten at the Hopman Cup with an unassailable 2-0 victory over Australia Tuesday. Ana Ivanovic produced another impressive performance to see off Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-0 and win the first point for Serbia. Belgium eliminated Kazakhstan 3-0 to stay in contention. Earlier, seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin downed Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3. Belgian youngster Ruben Bemelmans, ranked 178th, later pulled off a surprise 6-4, 6-4 win over 36th-ranked Andrey Golubev. Henin and Bemelmans then beat Karatantcheva and Golubev in the mixed doubles 4-6, 6-2. Berdych thrashes Gil Top-seeded Tomas Berdych raced to an easy 6-0, 6-1 win over Frederico Gil of Portugal to move into the second round of the Chennai Open Tuesday. On a day of lopsided contests, Swiss third seed Stanislas Wawrinka, fourth-seeded Richard Gasquet of France and Belgian seventh seed Xavier Malisse recorded straight set victories. Gasquet brushed aside countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 6-3. Wawrinka defeated Indian wildcard entrant Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 6-4 while Belgian seventh seed Xavier Malisse beat Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-3, 6-1. Belgian qualifier David Goffin beat Somdev Devvarman 6-2, 6-4 to end the local challenge. Stosur, Peer lose French Open finalist Sam Stosur had an upset loss in straight sets to fellow Australian Jarmila Groth 6-2, 6-4 and Shahar Peer lost to Lucie Safarova 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 as the top two women's seeds were ousted Tuesday at the Brisbane International. In other matches, Russian No. 5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 7-5 and Italy's Roberta Vinci had a 6-2, 7-6 (2) win over American Christina McHale. Men's results: Robin Soderling of Sweden bt Ryan Harrison of the US 6-2, 6-4, Marcos Baghdatis bt Florent Serra 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, Benjamin Becker bt Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3, Mardy Fish bt Adrian Mannarin 6-1, 6-4, Radek Stepanek bt Tobias Kamke 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 and Kevin Anderson bt Peter Luczak 6-4, 6-4. Wickmayer beats Safina Defending champion Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium beat former top-ranked Dinara Safina of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1 at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland Tuesday.
