June 02, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

PARIS, June 1: Roger Federer eased over another hurdle in his quest for a first French Open title when he outclassed Italy's Potito Starace on Friday to reach the last 16. It was classic Federer — swift, ruthless and sublime. Starace was little more than a walk-on figure by the end of a third round tie that lasted just 91 minutes with the Swiss star winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-0.

Federer was joined in the fourth round by two of the men expected to give him trouble in the later stages of the Grand Slam tournament next week — Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Guillermo Canas of Argentina.

Also through went rising Argentine star Juan Monaco and gritty Russian Mikhail Youzhny who outlasted 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-2.

To complete the last 16 line-up in the top half of the draw, last year's beaten semi-finalist David Nalbandian of Argentina silenced the partisan centre-court crowd by seeing off a bold challenge from Gael Monfils.

Filippo Volandri of Italy stunned seventh seed Croatian Ivan Ljubicic and Spain's Tommy Robredo coasted past Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Jelena Jankovic was the pick of the women, underlining her title credentials by defeating Venus Williams in a classy centre-court third round encounter 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Top seed Justine Henin was playing later in the day on the centre court against tall Italian Mara Santangelo, a player she has beaten four times out of four and Serena Williams was up against Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.

Federer said after his mismatch against Starace that all was in place as he gears up his bid to dethrone Rafael Nadal and become only the third man in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

“I feel well and I'm playing well. I haven't lost a set so I'm happy to be in the fourth round,” said Federer.

“I felt good from the start and it was hard for him to hit service winners. I always felt that I would be the better man from the baseline and on clay that's a huge advantage.”

Federer will take a career 9-0 advantage over Youzhny into Sunday's fourth round.

Despite that record, he insists he will not underestimate his opponent.

“Although I have never lost to him, I have a lot of respect for his game. I like the way he plays, so I will have to be careful,” he said.

Youzhny was less forthcoming. “We'll see what happens,” was all he could muster.

Davydenko was equally dismissive of French hope Michael Llodra winning 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to move to within two matches of a possible semi-final match-up with Federer.

Canas, playing his his first Grand Slam event since serving a 15-month ban for doping saw off the challenge of Belgium's Kristoff Vliegen 6-2, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and he will now play compatriot Monaco for a place in the quarter-finals.

Favourite Nadal has his third round tie on Saturday going up against compatriot Albert Montanes.

The 22-year Belgrade-born Jankovic has been in impressive form this year winning three titles in Auckland, Charleston and most recently in Rome and she had beaten Williams on the last two occasions they had met.

The Serb made it three in a row winning a superb morning start contest that swung one way and then the next before Jankovic grabbed control from a tiring Williams in the third set.

“I stayed mentally very strong in third set and I really went for my shots,” Jankovic said.

“I was a little bit tired in the second set, but I just went for it in the third and it paid off.

“It was an amazing third round match and it was a shame that Venus had to go out so early. It's always good to beat one of the Williams sisters.”

Jankovic is seeded to meet Henin in the semi-finals with second seed Maria Sharapova in the other half of the draw playing her third round tie against Russian compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva on Saturday

The top half of the third round in the women's tournament also saw an upset from France's Marion Bartoli who proved too good for 2004 runner-up Elena Dementieva winning 6-2, 6-4.

Dementieva was also beaten in the third round last year.

The Russian 13th seed, runner up to fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina in 2004, never looked comfortable during the 68-minute contest and slid out after scooping a forehand into the net.

Enjoying her best run at a Grand Slam, Bartoli will next face Jankovic for a place in the quarter-finals.

Joining her in the last 16 were Italy's Tathiana Garbin who ousted French youngster Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, Sybille Bammer of Austria who ended Chinese hopes with a straight sets win over Li Na and sixth-seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic who breezed past Australia's Samantha Stosur.

Former world No 1 Amelie Mauresmo was in danger of another early French Open exit on Thursday before recovering to beat fellow Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 in a rain-hit second-round match.

Fifth seed Mauresmo, making her 13th consecutive appearance in her home Grand Slam event where she has never gone beyond the quarter-finals, made a promising start, taking the first set in just 39 minutes.

Dechy, however, staged a comeback in the second set, breaking her opponent straight away and going on to lead 5-2.

Former world No 11 Dechy, who has dropped to 46th after a poor run of form, served for the set but was broken.Mauresmo carried on to forced a tie break, in which she was 4-2 down when rain halted play for nearly two hours.

When play resumed, Dechy won the tiebreak 7-3, Mauresmo netting a backhand on set point.

Dechy broke Mauresmo in the opening game of the decisive set but then collapsed, losing six games in a row and bowing out when Mauresmo fired a service winner on the second match point after two hours and 17 minutes of play.

Also progressing to the third round was third seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2006 runner-up, who recovered from losing the first five games and saved three set points to beat America's Meghann Shaughnessy 7-6, 6-3.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Third round: 15-David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Gael Monfils (France) 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); 29-Filippo Volandri (Italy) beat 7-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; 19-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-2, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; 9-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-4, 6-0; 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Michael Llodra (France) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Potito Starace (Italy) 6-2, 6-3, 6-0; 13-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat 17-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-2; Juan Monaco (Argentina) beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Second round: Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat Gilles Simon (France) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2); Igor Andreev (Russia) beat Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Women’s singles:

Third round: 18-Marion Bartoli (France) beat 13-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-2, 6-4; 6-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat 27-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-4, 6-4; 20-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat 16-Li Na (China) 6-4, 6-3; 4-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat 26-Venus Williams (US) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; 19-Tathiana Garbin (Italy) beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (France) 6-3, 6-0.

Second round: 12-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Olga Poutchkova (Russia) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

Thursday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

Second round: Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Albert Montanes (Spain) beat Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 6-1, 6-2, 1-6 7-6 (7-3); Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Oscar Hernandez (Spain) beat 28-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 7-6 (10-8), 6-1, 6-1.

Women’s singles:

Second round: Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) beat 32-Martina Mueller (Germany) 6-3 6-2; 9-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4; 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; 24-Anabel Medina (Spain) beat Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 7-5, 6-4; 5-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Nathalie Dechy (France) 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1; 21-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Meilen Tu (US) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.—Agencies