Federer rolls into third round at French Open

Paris, France – Swiss icon Roger Federer was an easy second- round winner Wednesday at the 2013 French Open.

The second-seeded former world No. 1 superstar dismantled helpless Indian Somdev Devvarman 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in a brisk 82-minute affair on Court Lenglen. Devvarman was a two-time NCAA champion while attending the University of Virginia.

"I tried to finish the match quite quickly, because I was afraid it would rain," Federer said. "So I was very focused, and I'm very happy for that."

Federer boasts a men's-record 254 Grand Slam singles match victories and is now third on the men's Open-Era list with 56 wins at the French.

The 31-year-old veteran is the all-time men's leader with 17 Grand Slam singles titles, including last year's Wimbledon championship and the 2009 French Open crown. The Swiss great is also a four-time Roland Garros runner-up to Rafael Nadal, who also beat his long-time rival Federer in the Rome Masters finale just two weeks ago.

Federer's third-round opponent will be quality Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who upset the Swiss legend in Rotterdam earlier this season.

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded David Ferrer and sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also secured spots in the third round.

Ferrer, a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year, broke serve eight times in routing fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 on the famed red clay in Paris. Montanes was fresh off his clay-court title in Nice.

The gritty Ferrer will next take on another compatriot, Feliciano Lopez, who beat Portuguese Joao Sousa by a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 margin.

The heavy French crowd favorite and former Australian Open runner-up Tsonga discarded veteran Finnish left-hander Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-3, while 10th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic handled promising Aussie Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 on Day 4. Nieminen was a runner-up in Germany last week.

In other second-round play involving top-16 seeds, No. 11 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro drubbed France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, formidable No. 14 Canadian Milos Raonic defeated quality French left-hander Michael Llodra 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, and No. 15 Frenchman Gilles Simon overcame Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

Also in the second round, 18th-seeded American Sam Querrey erased Czech Jan Hajek 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; 20th-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi (20) outlasted Slovenian Blaz Kavcic 6-0, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (2-7), 4-6, 6-3; 23rd-seeded South African slugger Kevin Anderson overcame Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-7 (8-10), 6-1, 7-5, 6-2; 25th-sdeeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy bested Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 7-5, 6-4; a 30th-seeded Benneteau snuck past German Tobias Kamke 7-6 (11-9), 7-5, 5-7, 0-6, 6-4; and 32nd-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo fought back from two-sets-to-love down to beat down Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-7 (2-7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.

In some first-round action on Wednesday, No. 8 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia topped Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 and 24th-seeded rising Frenchman Benoit Paire defeated former Aussie Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 6-4.

Some other second-round results saw flashy French crowd favorite Gael Monfils dismiss talented Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 and Serb Viktor Troicki outlast Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4. Monfils was last week's runner-up in Nice.

Additional opening-round wins came for Pole Lukasz Kubot and Argentine Horacio Zeballos, who stunned Nadal in a clay-court final in Chile back in February.

On Thursday, second-round matches will come for current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and the third-seeded former top-ranked Nadal. Djokovic will play rising Argentine Guido Pella, while the seven-time French Open champion Nadal will encounter Slovak Martin Klizan.

Nadal beat the reigning Aussie Open champ Djokovic in last year's marquee French Open finale.

Thursday's schedule will also feature seventh-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, Tipsarevic and ninth-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka.