David Ferrer moved into the second round of the French Open Sunday with a convincing straight set victory over Jarko Nieminen 6-3 6-3 6-1.
Ferrer, seeded No. 7, struck more than twice as many winner than unforced errors, 33 to 16, and never faced a break point en route to his second win this year over the Finnish player in a Grand Slam. The Spaniard also beat Nieminen in the first round of the Australian Open.
The first set was closer than the score indicated, with Ferrer taking advantage of the only break point in the set. From there, though, the match was decidedly one-sided--Ferrer dominated the rallies from the baseline and came up with all the answers when Nieminen came to net--passing him off both wings and using an effective lob. Ferrer cruised through the final two sets in just under an hour, dropping just nine points on serve in the match.
Ferrer will await the winner of Julien Benneteau and Rui Machado in the second round.
The upset bug did not wait long to rear its ugly head at Roland Garros as No. 19 seed Marin Cilic was defeated today by Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. The Croat was the first seeded player to fall this year.
Cilic had two chances to put away the first set, serving at both 5-4 and 6-5 before dropping the opener in a tiebreaker and going on to lose in straight sets, 7-6 6-4 6-4. Cilic never got his big serve going in the match, converting on just 54% of his first serves while winning just 37% of his second serve points. It was a recipe for disaster against Ramirez Hidalgo, who was content to spend most of the match waiting for Cilic to make errors. The Croat finished with 67 unforced errors.
Ramirez Hidalgo, who advanced to the Round of 16 at Roland Garros in 2006, will play fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes in the second round. Montanes beat Lucky Loser Marc Gicquel, who got a spot in the main draw when Lleyton Hewitt withdrew with an injury.
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