Federer, Nadal set for Montreal action as opponents step up

 Federer, who turns 26 on Wednesday, will face the big serve of Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who put out Max Mirnyi 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Nadal, who won the event in Montreal two years ago, starts with Marat Safin.

 The Russian advanced without a fight as Swede Robin Soderling quit while leading 2-1 with a wrist problem.

 Safin once stood number one in the world but is currently 22nd after fighting through knee injury for the past seasons. The former US and Australian Open champion is not stressing over his next match- up.

 In fact, Safin hardly seems to care as he meets the Spaniard Nadal for the first time: "I don't want to have extra pressure on myself that I should make at least a good match. So I don't really care."

   "What I have to lose? He's the one second seeded," Safin added. "He's the one who is fighting for number one this year. For me it's another opportunity, another chance."

   Serb Novak Djokovic lived up to his third seeding, picking up on hardcourts for the first time since March with a win over recovering German Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-3.

 The 29-year-old Kiefer missed nearly a year with a wrist injury and hurt a knee three weeks ago in Los Angeles. The match was a re- run of a rain-marred third round Wimbledon contest that took days to finish earlier this summer.

 "He's very difficult opponent to play against on any surface. Especially the hard courts," said Djokovic.

 Scot Andy Murray made a solid return from three months of wrist injury, avoiding putting too much pressure on his forehand side in a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Robby Ginepri.

 The hard-luck American Ginepri has won just six matches this year.

 Ginepri showed his frustration at that state of affairs after being broken in the second set, throwing a racket to the sidelines and kicking hard at his on-court nameplate.

 Murray last played on May 15 in Hamburg when he hurt tendons in his right wrist, missing Roland Garros and Wimbledon and pushing back his North American debut for several weeks.

 "The doctors and physio tell me that I can't injure it any more. But subconsciously when you feel a bit of pain, you don't swing as hard as you can," Roddick said. "But when the time feels right, I'll do that."

   "I wanted to make sure that I didn't come back too early," he added. "When you've been out for 11 weeks one more week won't make a difference."

   Murray advanced into the second round against Italian number 138 Fabio Fognini. The winner of that match will go up against Federer or Karlovic.

 Murray, seeded 13th, improved to 25-7 this season with a San Jose title to show for his early efforts.

 Also Tuesday, ninth seed James Blake beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 7-6 (7-4). Germany's Tommy Haas, playing only his second event since an abdominal injury at Wimbledon, beat Argentine Agustin Calleri 6-3, 7- 6 (8-6).

 Finn Jarkko Nieminen reached the second round over Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4.

DPA