Federer wins opener in Cincinnati

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MASON (AP) — The ball really zipped off the fast, blue court, especially when it came off Roger Federer’s racket.

Federer held serve throughout a 6-3, 7-5 win over Jose Acasuso on Wednesday, facing only one break point in his first match at the Cincinnati Masters. The Swiss star made 70 percent of his first serves and piled up 14 aces while getting accustomed to the tournament’s heat, humidity and famously fast courts.

His afternoon match was the second of four in a row on center court involving top-ranked players — Federer, No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 3 Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic beat Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the opening match. Murray won his first match as the world’s No. 2 player, a ranking he reached for the first time after winning the title at Montreal last week. His 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Spain’s Nicolas Almagro wasn’t much fun. Rain delayed the first set and ratcheted up the humidity.

Nadal beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) in a match twice delayed by rain.

Rogers Cup

TORONTO — No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Aravane Rezai of France in a second-round match at the $2 million WTA Tour event.

Safina’s loss comes one day after No. 3 seed Venus Williams was upset by Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko.

The tournament lost another high seed when No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki fell 7-5, 6-3 to China’s Zheng Jie. Wozniacki was broken seven times in the match, and saved just one of four break points in the second set.

No. 12 Flavia Pennetta of Italy is also out after a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Virginie Razzano of France.

Seeded players to advance to round three Wednesday included: No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia, No. 5 Jelena Jankovic, and No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, who downed Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-3.