Defending champion Roger Federer defied two rain breaks to reach the French Open third round on Wednesday as last year’s runner-up Robin Soderling took just 71 super-charged minutes to book his place.
Federer, chasing a 17th Grand Slam title, overcame a sloppy first set, where he was plagued by 21 unforced errors and had to save five break points, before defeating Colombian left-hander Alejandro Falla 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-4.
The world number one will tackle either Belgium’s Olivier Rochus or German qualifier Julian Reister, the world 165, for a place in the last 16.
Federer went into his match buoyed by having already defeated world number 70 Falla twice without dropping a set, including in the second round of Roland Garros in 2006.
But he struggled throughout the opening set before getting the better of the Colombian, shrugging off the distractions of two rain interruptions.
“A player like Falla needed the first set to have a chance of winning,” said Federer, on a day when bursts of heavy rain brought to an end three days when temperatures had soared to a sweltering 30 degrees.
“He

China, India, Brazil and Russia are powering ahead, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Develop-ment (OECD) said on Wednesday, revising upwards its growth outlook for all four largest emerging economies.

Mahesh Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber have been given the top billing at the mixed doubles event of the French Open, while Leander Paes and Cara Black are seeded second.

Four-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal began his campaign to win back his Roland Garros title with a convincing 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over France’s Gianni Mina, the world 655, on Tuesday.

Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded third and will open their French Open campaign against Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands A here.

Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer began his campaign for a 17th Grand Slam title with a comfortable 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over Australia’s Peter Luczak in the French Open first round on Monday.

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Somdev Devvarman was knocked out of the French Open first round, losing a marathon five-setter 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 to world number 65 Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland at the Roland Garros on Sunday.

Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova reeled off 11 of the last 12 games to move into the French Open second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Sunday. But 10th seeded Belarusian Victoria

Somdev Devvarman on Friday became the first Indian in 13 years to qualify for the men’s singles event of the French Open after scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win over Adrian Mannarino here.