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25.05.2011 Tennis

Roger Federer thrashes Maxime Teixeira

25.05.2011 LISTEN
By The Statesman

Third seed Roger Federer made a statement of intent to the rest of the French Open field with an emphatic 6-3 6-0 6-2 victory over Maxime Teixeira.

Federer, who completed his set of Grand Slam titles in Paris in 2009, was pegged back by Teixeira after an early break but then rarely stretched.

The Swiss rattled off 13 consecutive games as he won through to the third round in just an hour and 24 minutes.

Janko Tipsarevic will face Federer next after beating Spain's Pere Riba.

Teixeira is ranked 178 places short of world number three Federer and never looked like closing the chasm in class between them.

Federer always looked as if he had another gear and accelerated away from his 22-year-old opponent after breaking to lead 5-3 in the first.

Frenchman Teixeira won just eight points in the second set, before finally making an impression on the scoreline at 1-4 in the third.

Teixiera gamely salavaged a match point in the seventh game but could not resist a charging Federer much longer and skewed a backhand wide soon to surrender the match.

Federer admitted he felt some sympathy for his opponent.

"It's so difficult to come out and play on a big court when you are not used to it," he said after the match.

"I'm playing here for the 12th year and I'm very experienced."

Teixiera, a wild card who won his first Tour level match in beating Vincent Millot in the previous round, was happy to put the defeat down to experience.

"To play against Roger is an incredible experience. I'll never forget it and it will be great memories," he said.

Tipsarevic, seeded 29th, also enjoyed a leisurely victory as he swept aside Riba 6-1 6-3 6-0 on Court Seven.

The Serb will hope to go one better than he managed in the third round of the 2008 Australian Open, where he took Federer to five sets before eventually losing the final set 10-8.

Seventh seed and clay-court specialist David Ferrer wrapped up the day's third straight-sets win in the men's draw as he eliminated France's Julien Benneteau 6-3 6-4 6-2.

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