August 18, 2006	Friday	Rajab 22, 1427

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CINCINNATI (Ohio), Aug 17: Roger Federer suffered his first defeat before a final for 14 months when he was stunned by rising Briton Andy Murray 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday.

Murray, ranked a career-high 21st this week, became only the second player to beat the world number one this year as he broke the Swiss world number one's serve seven times.

It was the first time in 18 events that Federer had failed to reach a tournament final, his last defeat before a final coming against Rafael Nadal in the 2005 French Open semis.

Murray now faces Robby Ginepri in the third round after the American 15th seed eclipsed Russia's Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-4.

World No 2 Nadal, however, sauntered into the third round and a match against Germany's Tommy Haas after a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee.

Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero inflicted a comprehensive 6-2, 6-4 defeat against sixth-seeded American James Blake, who has now won just three matches in as many tournaments since winning in Indianapolis last month.

Stanislas Wawrinka made up some ground for Switzerland when he beat third seed David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-2.

Wednesday’s results:

Second round: 9-Andy Roddick (US) beat Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-4, 6-4; 15-Robby Ginepri (US) beat Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-3, 6-4; 10-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0; 7-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 6-4, 6-4; Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat 3-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-4, 6-2; 13-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Mardy Fish (US) 7-5, 7-5; 16-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) 6-3, 6-2; Florent Serra (France) beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia & Montenegro) 6-4, 6-4; Andy Murray (Britain) beat 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) 7-5, 6-4; Robin Soederling (Sweden) beat Justin Gimelstob (US) 6-3, 2-6 7-6 (8-6); 4-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Vince Spadea (US) 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-2; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat 6-James Blake (US) 6-2, 6-4; 8-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) beat Gael Monfils (France) 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 6-1; 14-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Gilles Simon (France) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Hyung-Taik Lee (South Korea) 6-4, 6-3.

CLIJSTERS INJURED

MONTREAL: Seven seeds missed out on the chance to benefit from Kim Clijster's premature withdrawal from the Rogers Cup as unsung players hogged the limelight in second-round action Wednesday.

Clijsters, the world No 2 and defending champion in Montreal, was forced to withdraw after suffering a wrist injury while leading Canadian wildcard Stephanie Dubois 6-1, 2-3 less than two weeks before she is due to start the defence of her Flushing Meadows crown.

The Belgian was scheduled to undergo an MRI scan on Thursday to assess the damage and seven other seeds also exited the competition.

Third-ranked Nadia Petrova slumped to her fourth successive defeat when she was upset by fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-4.

Chakvetadze, who also beat Petrova in San Diego earlier in the month, will next play Nathalie Dechy of France, who knocked out 15th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-4.

Fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina continued her unpredictable run of form by exiting at the hands of Israel's Shahar Peer.

The sixth seed went down 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 for her second defeat at the first hurdle in three tournaments after reaching the final in Stockholm last week.

Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had little difficulty moving on, defeating Polish qualifier Marta Domachowska 6-1, 6-3 while American qualifier Shenay Perry outslugged 10th seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 7-6, 6-2.

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic defeated number eight Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6-1, 6-4, and Japan's Ai Sugiyama upset 17th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Russia's Dinara Safina and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia were among the seeded winners.

Results:

Second round: Nicole Pratt (Australia) beat Marie-Eve Pelletier (Canada) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Stephanie Dubois (Canada) beat 1-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 1-6, 3-2 – Clijsters retired; Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 6-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 6-4; 14-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Alberta Brianti (Italy) 6-3, 6-4; 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-1, 6-3; Marion Bartoli (France) beat 12-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 7-5, 2-1 – Pennetta retired; 13-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia & Montenegro) beat Jie Zheng (China) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2; Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat 3-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-1, 6-4; 11-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Jamea Jackson (US) 7-6 (9-7), 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat 17-Anabel Medina (Spain) 6-4, 6-2; Nathalie Dechy (France) beat 15-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-4, 6-4; Jelena Jankovic (Serbia & Montenegro) beat 8-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-1, 6 -4; 9-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Cara Black (Zimbabwe) 6-2, 6-2; Shenay Perry (US) beat 10-Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.—Reuters