time champion Roger Federer needed barely an hour Saturday to win his opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open, defeating Stepanek, 6-3, 6-3. The victory was Federer's 762nd, which ties him with Pete Sampras for seventh place in the Open era. No. 13-seeded Mikhail Youzhny drubbed Yen-hsun Lu 6-1, 6-0, and No. 15 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3. No. 26 Juan Ignacio Chela lost to Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4. In women's play, 2006 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-1. Federer improved to 19-3 this year, with all three losses to Novak Djokovic. They could meet in the final next Sunday. Andy Murray's post-Australian Open slump shows no sign of ending. The three-time Grand Slam runner-up lost Friday in his opening match to American qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-1, 7-5. The Scotsman hasn't won a set in three matches since he was routed in the Australian Open final by Novak Djokovic. Following Murray's departure, Djokovic improved to 19-0 in 2011 by drubbing Denis Istomin 6-0, 6-1. Djokovic's record is the best to begin a year since Ivan Lendl started 25-0 in 1986. “I know it has only been a couple of months of the year,” Djokovic said, “but I have been playing great, and I want to keep on doing that.” Murray, meanwhile, has lost nine consecutive sets, a remarkable drought for a player ranked fifth in the world. “The same thing happened around the same time last year,” Murray said. “I have been practicing well, training well, and then in the matches can't get anything going.” While Bogomolov's victory gave US tennis fans something to brag about, the last American in the women's draw was eliminated in the second round when Varvara Lepchenko lost to Petra Kvitova 6-1, 6-2. Defending champion Kim Clijsters needed only 50 minutes to win her opening match, beating qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova 6-1, 6-1. Reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone advanced by beating Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-4. No. 3-seeded Vera Zvonareva rallied to defeat former No. 1 Dinara Safina 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. In other men's play, No. 4 Robin Soderling earned his 20th victory this year by beating Ivan Dodig 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Americans Mardy Fish, John Isner and James Blake also reached the third round. Fish, seeded 14th, won his opening match against Julien Benneteau, 6-4, 6-3. The unseeded Blake edged No. 27 Thomaz Bellucci 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6), while Isner, seeded 30th, defeated Russia's Igor Andreev 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2). Juan Martin del Potro took another step in his comeback from right wrist surgery by edging No. 29 Philipp Kohschreiber 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5. No. 9 Fernando Verdasco lost to fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4. No. 31 Milos Raonic, at 20 the youngest player in the men's top 50, lost to Somdev Devvarman 7-6 (5), 7-5. Murray's biggest problem against Bogomolov was serving. His first serves ranged from 133 mph to 95, and he complained of being unable to find a rhythm after holding only three times in 10 service games. “You serve one at 130 and then the next one at 95 and then one at 115,” he said. “There's no consistent sort of hitting the serves and feeling good about them. There was no consistency on any part of my game, really.” Murray looked sluggish with his footwork and repeatedly steered groundstrokes into the middle of the court.
