Federer paces the elite with opening victory in Montreal

MONTREAL - Roger Federer led three of the world’s top 4 into the third round of the Montreal Masters tennis, pacing the all-star field with his 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 defeat of Canadian Frederic Niemeyer.

“I’m very happy with my game, I reacted well in my first match back,” said the world number one. “I played the big points well, I’m very pleased.

“There was a stadium full of Canadians cheering for Frederic but there were also a few for me,” said the 15-time Grand Slam winner. “I’m happy to be back after the long (five-week) break. We played at a very high level.”

The host nation also lost another player as 2007 winner Novak Djokovic, ranked fourth, dealt out Peter Polansky 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

World number three Andy Murray, poised to take over the number two ranking should newly returned defending champion Rafael Nadal falter at all this week, hung tough as he worked out the kinks after five weeks off.

Murray, a Scot, defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-2, striking nine aces and saving six break points.

Nadal will make his return after two-and-a-half months away from the game, allowing a pair of knees plagued with tendinitis to rest.

Murray stands on the cusp of replacing the four-time French Open winner on second behind Federer should he go father this week than Nadal.

Nikolay Davydenko, seeded eighth and making the latest possible start on this side of the Atlantic, advanced into the third round after a bye over France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2), in a two-hour workout.

Murray said he got a good workout against number 36 Chardy, who won the Stuttgart clay title last month.

“I started well and every time I was in a tough situation I came up with some big serves and some big shots. That was the difference.”

“There were a lot of tough moments,” said Murray. “I saw 10, 11 break points. That’s always good when you come back. That was the thing I was most pleased with … in the tight moments I came up with some big shots.”

Murray awaits the winner from 13th seed Gael Monfils and former french Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The Spaniard, whose career is taking off once again at age 29, defeated fellow former number one Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-4, with the Australian still suffering with a muscle tear from last week in Washington.

In other first-round contests on a day featuring both humid sunshine and an afternoon rainstorm, Spanish 15th seed Tommy Robredo beat American qualifier Alex Bogomolov 6-4, 6-2 .

Philipp Kohlschreiber and Tommy Haas doubled up for Germany, with “Kohli” defeating Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (9-11), 6-4 and Haas recovering to defeat Croatian serving machine Ivo Karlovic 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.