Roddick exits loudly, Federer wins quietly

The desert giveth, and the desert taketh.

Any momentum Andy Roddick had carefully constructed -- mostly by virtue of his recent tournament title in Dubai -- abruptly vanished in racket-smashing anger Sunday at Indian Wells at the Pacific Life Open with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round loss to unseeded Tommy Haas.

Then you had the B side.

Newly vulnerable Roger Federer -- which sounds faintly ridiculous -- took the first step in rebounding from consecutive losses, the most recent coming against Andy Murray in Dubai. The top-seeded Federer looked unfettered in a routine 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Guys named Guillermo have often been a tricky proposition for Federer, who lost his opening match here last year, to Guillermo Canas and then again to Canas in the next event in Miami

“It just sort of takes you back to reality,” said Federer, who has won this title three times. “But in some ways it was good for me too. I guess because I was winning so much.”

This year, physical vulnerability has been a real issue for Federer, who came down with mononucleosis. Still he had his limits, drawing the line at hospitalization.

“They wanted to keep me there,” Federer said. “But I said, ‘Roger Federer doesn’t stay in the hospital for this.’ If I have a problem, I’ll come back, but let me first get worse.”

As for last year’s loss, Federer mentioned how difficult it was to go out so early and have almost “two weeks to kill” before the next event in Miami and spoke about what had happened to Roddick here.

The curse of Dubai, perhaps?

Though Haas beating the sixth-seeded Roddick appeared to be an upset on paper, he has defeated Roddick seven times in 10 meetings. And Haas had one other new weapon in his arsenal, or, more accurately, his camp: Roddick’s former coach, Dean Goldfine.

“I don’t feel like I hit the ball badly,” said Roddick, who suffered his earliest loss here in six appearances. “I maybe didn’t play as well as I should have on the points I should have won . . . Whenever that happens and someone is in form and plays a good match, you’re going to get beat. That being said, I’ve been playing very, very well for the last month, and so I’m not going to freak out over this loss and forget everything I’ve been able to kind of work toward in the last month. “

Roddick’s resurgence in Dubai -- where he beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic -- had been an intriguing story line heading into this tournament, and appeared to make his quarter here with Federer and No. 11 Murray look like a mini group of death.

Murray stumbled and nearly fell at the first hurdle, needing three sets to beat Jurgen Melzer in the second round, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. He had a first-round bye, as did Roddick and Federer.

Haas, who had right shoulder surgery in New York in November, only recently returned to the tour, rejoining the circuit in February in Delray Beach, Fla. He had his customary sharpness against Roddick, breaking him at 30 in the ninth game of the first set when Roddick netted a volley.

In all, Haas was two of two on break-point opportunities. That was just enough, and he saved two break points himself. Haas won it on his third match point with a net-cord winner.

Haas, who will play Fernando Verdasco in the third round, spoke about the effort it took to return after his latest surgery and what motivated him to stay in the game and not quit.

“That’s really the part where a lot of times you really do think about, ‘Am I going to continue? Is this the right thing?’ ” Haas said. “ . . . Until you really are stepped on a hundred times and you really fall very far behind in the ranking and can’t win any matches anymore, then you might consider it.

“But really on a day like today when everything clicks, it’s going to be pretty hard to think about that.”

In women’s play, fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova defeated Eleni Daniilidou, 7-5, 6-3, in the third round. Sharapova, 16-0 this year, will next play Alona Bondarenko. Bondarenko defeated the slumping Amelie Mauresmo, 6-1, 6-2.

Mauresmo, a former No. 1, cut a sad figure as she spoke about her ability to come back. “It’s something I still believe in,” she said. “But sometimes it’s hard.”

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