Oeiras, April 16:

Roger Federer rallied from a set down to beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the clay-court Estoril Open on Tuesday.

The top-ranked Swiss player had eight aces in the first set, but made too many forced errors. His double-fault on set point in the seventh game, one of 53 unforced errors in the match, allowed the 80th-ranked Belgian to lead 4-3.

In the fourth game of the second set, Federer squandered two break points with wayward shots. But he broke Rochus’ serve in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead and didn’t concede a point in his set-clinching service game. Federer looked more composed in the final set and twice broke Rochus’ serve. The top-ranked player finished with 17 aces.

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko also made a shaky start against Jurgen Melzer but recovered to win 6-3, 6-1. Davydenko lost his first service game and trailed 2-0 before breaking his opponent’s serve three times in the first set. The Russian won the Estoril Open title in 2003 and lost in the final two years ago.

Third-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia retired injured while losing to Rui Machado of Portugal 6-4, 1-0; Denis Gremelmayr of Germany eliminated fourth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; and eighth-seeded Michael Berrer of Germany defeated Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-4, 7-5. Other winners included Victor Hanescu of Romania, Thierry Ascione of France and Joao Sousa of Portugal.

Serena triumphs

CHARLESTON: Romanian teen Sorana Cirstea upset third-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 to reach the last 16 at the Family Circle Cup on Tuesday. Chakvetadze, ranked 80 spots higher at No 6, won the Paris Indoors in February but has slumped since, going 4-6 on the tour.

Also through to the third round were No 5 Serena Williams, No 6 Marion Bartoli, No 8 Dinara Safina and No 10 Agnes Szavay. Williams struggled past Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-3, 6-4, overcoming losing her serve three times. Bartoli outlasted Casey Dellacqua of Australia 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, Safina defeated Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, 6-1, 6-4, and Szavay beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

In first-round action, American wild card Bethanie Mattek beat China’s Yuan Meng 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to line up a match with second-seeded Maria Sharapova. Three seeded players, however, lost —No 14 Anabel Medina Garrigues, No 15 Dominika Cibulkova and No 16 Michaella Krajicek.

Medina Garrigues was beaten by Ukraine’s Tatiana Perebiynis 4-6, 6-0, 7-5; Cibulkova retired with a lower back injury while trailing Russia’s Anastasia Rodionova 6-4, 1-0; and Krajicek lost to France’s Alize Cornet 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.