Tennis: Federer makes early exit in Rome

ROME - Roger Federer got off to a rough start to his clay-court season by losing to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 2-6 6-1 7-5 in his opening match at the Rome Masters today.

"My game was definitely not up to speed," Federer said. "My serve was not working at all."

It was Federer's first singles in nearly a month. The world's top-ranked player took off several weeks after losing in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne at the end of March.

Federer was planning to use this tournament to warm up for his French Open title defence, and he will play two more tournaments - in Estoril and Madrid - before heading back to Paris.

"I hope I can come back from this. That's usually what I do after a loss like this," he said. "Sometimes it takes a loss to wake up and shake you up for your approach the next week. When you always win, sometimes you forget how hard it is. That's why today I don't get too worried about this loss."

The 40th-ranked Gulbis fought off nerves at the end and finally closed out the second-round match on his seventh match point.

"I don't have a word in English for it. It's indescribable," he said of the upset, before addressing his jitters. "I couldn't put a serve in - I was shaking. I didn't know what to do. It was a terrible feeling."

Also, Novak Djokovic began his bid to reach a third consecutive Rome final with a quick 6-1 6-1 win over French opponent Jeremy Chardy; and No 4 Andy Murray beat the top Italian, Andreas Seppi, 6-2 6-4.

Earlier, Lleyton Hewitt ground out a 6-4 4-6 6-3 win over ninth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, a positive step in the Australian's comeback from hip surgery; and Victor Hanescu of Romania beat another seeded player, No 16 Juan Monaco, 7-6 (4) 6-4.

In other matches, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland easily beat Juergen Melzer of Austria 6-1 6-2; Feliciano Lopez of Spain advanced past Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4 6-3; and Italian wild card Simone Bolelli eliminated German lucky loser Simon Greul 6-4 6-1.

Federer teamed with Yves Allegro to win a doubles match yesterday at the Foro Italico, but the 16-time Grand Slam champion struggled with his consistency against Gulbis under a light rain.

Federer reached the semifinal here last year, has been a runner-up twice in Rome, and this remains one of only three Masters Series events he's never won.

Playing inside the tournament's new 10,500-seat stadium, Gulbis appeared nervous at the start and Federer won the opening set easily.

Federer didn't face a break point until the fourth game of the second set, when he missed a forehand wide to end a long rally and hand Gulbis a 3-1 lead. Gulbis then broke again to go up 5-1 when Federer made a series of errors - including a rare overhead miss.

Federer committed 15 unforced errors to Gulbis' eight in the second set alone, and his form in the final set was even worse, missing one routine baseline shot after another.

In all, Federer committed 38 unforced errors to Gulbis' 39, and trailed 20-33 in winners. Federer also struggled with his serve, landing only half of his first attempts to Gulbis' 71 per cent.

"On clay you can lose the feeling sometimes," Federer said of his serve. "At one point I tried to go three-quarters speed but that didn't work either, so I just kept going for it and hoping that it would come back eventually, and it didn't unfortunately."

Gulbis double-faulted on match point twice and made errors on each of his first six match points before Federer finally hit a backhand into the net to end it.

Gulbis also took Federer to a third set before losing in the quarterfinals in Doha in January, then won his first career title in Delray Beach, Florida, in February. He is coached by Hernan Gumy and credits the Argentine pro with his improved form.

"He has immense power on both sides and one of the fastest serves in the game," Federer said. "I think he's got a great future."

Federer wouldn't blame the cool and damp conditions.

"I started well and the conditions were kind of like the French Open final last year," he said. "Actually, I wasn't too happy that it was slow against a player that likes to end the points quickly."

Federer still has the doubles to look forward to here. He and Allegro will next face sixth-seeded Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Paul Hanley of Australia.

"It will give a good chance to forget today and move forward," Federer said.

- AP