Nadal, Murray move on; Federer ousted in Rome

Rome, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal and British star Andy Murray advanced, while three-time runner-up Roger Federer suffered a second-round upset at the $4 million Italian Masters tennis event.

The world No. 1 superstar Nadal outlasted game former top-10 Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 in a grueling 3-hour, 18-minute affair. Nadal is now 6-1 lifetime versus Simon.

Nadal, fresh off his Masters title in Madrid last week, has appeared in eight Rome finals and nailed down his seventh championship here a year ago by beating Federer in the marquee final.

Up next for Nadal will be Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny.

Capable 47th-ranked Frenchman Jeremy Chardy stunned the fourth-seeded former world No. 1 great Federer in come-from-behind 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) fashion at Foro Italico.

Federer had match point in the third-set tiebreak, but Chardy saved it with an improbable cross-court forehand on the run when it looked like Federer was about to win the match.

After capturing the first set handily, Federer began to pile up unforced errors at an alarming rate on a windy Wednesday. The Swiss icon committed 43 unforced errors -- 20 in the second set alone -- to Chardy's 28.

"I wasn't able to stretch the lead when I had it," Federer said. "But at the end, it was shot here or there that decided the match."

Federer lost to Nadal in last year's Rome finale, also lost to Nadal here in 2006 and was the runner-up to another Spaniard, Felix Mantilla, in 2003.

The 32-year-old Federer skipped last week's Madrid Masters when his wife, Mirka, gave birth to the couple's second set of twins, this time boys, Leo and Lenny. Federer and Mirka already had four-year-old twins girls, Myla and Charlene.

The seventh-seeded Wimbledon champion Murray avoided an upset by handling Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-2, 7-5 on Day 4 of this clay court French Open tune-up.

Sixth-seeded Czech slugger Tomas Berdych advanced by cruising past Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-3.

In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 11 Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga snuck past tall South African Kevin Anderson 7-6 (16-14), 7-6 (7-5); No. 12 Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov outslugged 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; a No. 14 Youzhny got past Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 7-5, 4-1, retired; and No. 15 German veteran Tommy Haas topped Dutchman Igor Sijsling 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. The 36-year-old Haas was a Rome finalist 12 years ago.

Also on Wednesday in the "Eternal City," talented Latvian Ernests Gulbis fought back to beat Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-3, Austrian left-hander Jurgen Melzer doused Croat Marin Cilic, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 and Croat Ivan Dodig whipped Czech Lukas Rosol 6-1, 6-2.