World number one Roger Federer, No. 2 Andy Murray and No. 3 Rafael Nadal advanced on Wednesday to the third round of the ATP Cincinnati Masters hardcourt tournament while Andy Roddick was ousted.

Federer moved on by defeating Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-3, 7-5, British defending champion Murray defeated Spain's Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 and Nadal vanquished Italy's Andrea Seppi 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3).

The biggest upset came when American Sam Querrey, who won last month at Los Angeles after runner-up efforts in Indianapolis and Newport, eliminated US fifth seed Roddick 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (7/3).

Swiss star Federer, who won his record 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last month but was ousted in the quarterfinals last week at Montreal, will next face Spain's 19th-ranked David Ferrer in the US Open tuneup.

"The transition to Cincy is always a difficult one," Federer said. "I've had very up and down results here. Not very bad, but maybe just not to the standard I would like it sometimes."

Federer will try to capture a sixth consecutive US Open crown and third Grand Slam in a row at Flushing Meadows.

"I'm know I'm fit enough and ready to go when the US Open rolls around so I feel like I'm in great shape, which is most important," Federer said.

Scotland's Murray, in his first match since claiming the No. 2 ranking, saved a set point in the 12th game of the opening set and shrugged off a 20-minute rain delay to book a date with Czech 16th seed Radek Stepanek.

Nadal, whose match was also halted by a lengthy shower, excelled in the tie-breakers to reach a round-of-16 matchup with France's Paul-Henri Mathieu.

"I don't know if it was a very good match for me, but it was very important, because these matches help me a lot to get my best performance and to get physical training, too, so everything is positive," Nadal said.

Asked who he considered the US Open favorite, Nadal made it clear that Federer is the man to beat next month, but will have plenty of competition.

"When one player won the last five years, he's the favorite, no?" Nadal said. "He's the favorite. But a lot of players are coming well. Roddick is playing really well. Murray is doing really well. Djokovic always have his chances. He's a good player. And I hope myself. Del Potro, too."

Federer was happy with his first match and was not wishing he had spent more than 70 minutes on the court, knowing the grind of best-of-five-set matches to come.

"This is a good first match for me because I'm looking at the big picture," Federer said. "The big picture is hopefully winning another four here. For that I don't want to start with a 3 1/2-hour match in 100-degree heat.

"I've been practicing hard as I could. This is where I imitate the best-of-five set match over and over again. I don't need to play another three-hour match."

Murray took a break early in the second set and felt the steam disappear from Almagro's game.

"I thought Almagro played very well in the first set," Murray said. "If you can get ahead early in the second, it makes a big difference to both players' confidence. I think his head went down a little bit after that."

Now Murray, who won last week at Montreal, could take both major tuneups for the US Open and make himself a favorite to return to the final, where he lost to Federer a year ago.

"A lot of it is a physical thing. It's difficult," Murray said of a tuneup sweep. "I played a long final which was mentally quite tiring as well.

"I've just got to work my way into the tournament. If you can get yourself into the quarterfinals and semifinals, then you don't feel as tired because you're close to winning the tournament."

Federer's immediate goals are winning the US Open and holding off Murray and Nadal for year-end world number one honors.

"I would love to finish number one in the world at the end of this year but I think after the US Open and until the end of the year, I'll definitely just sit down and see where I want to go next year, what my goals are," Federer said.

Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic advanced by ousting Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. He will next face either big-serving American John Isner or France's Jeremy Chardy.

Australian Chris Guccione, ranked 124th, pulled off an early upset on the third day of the three million-dollar US Open tune-up event by eliminating French seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (14/12), 6-2.

AFP

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