Federer to face Canas, Gasquet shocked by qualifier
Published on Tue, May 06, 2008 at 16:04 in Sports section
Tags: Tennis, Rome Masters , Rome

NO BIG BOOM: Richard Gasquet failed to justify his ninth seed billing at Rome Masters.
The tournament
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Djokovic, Wawrinka reach Rome Masters final
Both players went through after their opponents pulled out.
In Monte Carlo, Nadal beat Federer for his first title of the season, improving his career clay-court record over his Swiss rival to 7-1.
"Federer is still the undisputed No. 1," Nadal said. "He is the toughest player for me."
Federer will play Canas on Tuesday, with Nadal up against either Juan Carlos Ferrero or Nicolas Kiefer on Wednesday.
Also advancing on Monday were Italian players Potito Starace and Andreas Seppi, Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev, Nicolas Mahut, Igor Andreev and Lee Hyung-taik.
Gasquet played the 111th-ranked Horna even until surrendering a break late in the first set. The top French player then unraveled, missing 15 forehands and committing 27 unforced errors overall.
"After losing the first set, I lost all my confidence," Gasquet said. "I played my worst match of the year."
The match lasted exactly one hour, and ended under light rain at the Foro Italico.
Last year, Gasquet finished in the top 10 for the first time, won a career-high 49 matches and posted his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals. This year, he is the only player in the top 10 yet to reach a quarterfinal match.
"I'm either way high or way low, and now I'm very low," Gasquet said, adding that he is not enjoying the sport right now.
"It's really difficult on the court. I need to win some matches and have fun."
Horna beat Max Mirnyi and Mischa Zverev in qualifying.
"I knew he was capable, just today anyone could have beaten me," Gasquet said.
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