In brief: Federer advances, will face Nadal

Roger Federer overcame a slow start to beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4 Saturday at Monte Carlo, Monaco, setting up a second straight Monte Carlo Masters final against Rafael Nadal.

The top-ranked Swiss player saved two break points when trailing 3-1 in the first set, then won the next four games to take the set.

Nadal advanced after beating 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-0, 7-5.

“It’s always fun to see the No. 1 and No. 2 playing against each other,” said Federer, who is 3-6 against Nadal. “I hope we can live up to the expectations and play a good match.

“We had some great matches last year. Three phenomenal ones on clay, all of them finals.”

Nadal beat Federer in finals at the Monte Carlo Masters, the Rome Masters and the French Open – the only major the 10-time Grand Slam champion has not won.

Federer struggled early against Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, but one lucky point turned the first set in his favor.

After saving one break point in the fifth game, Federer tried a drop shot on the second and the ball clipped the top of the net before rolling slowly onto Ferrero’s side of the court.

“That ball was very important for me,” Ferrero said. “It would have been 4-1 and a chance to serve. I think the story of the first set maybe turned a little bit.”

Federer put up a hand to apologize, and went on to beat Ferrero for the seventh time in 10 meetings.

Nadal, who lost his previous three matches to Berdych, conceded just seven points in the opening set.

Berdych rallied in the second set and pressured Nadal on his serve for three consecutive games, but the Czech player could not get the break he needed.

Tennis

Williams sisters give U.S. lead

Serena Williams completed a sibling sweep in Delray Beach, Fla., leaving the U.S. Fed Cup team on the verge of beating Belgium.

Playing Fed Cup for the first time since 2003, Williams beat Caroline Maes 6-1, 6-4 to give the Americans a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 opening-round match.

Older sister Venus Williams wobbled in the wind but rallied to beat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-2.

Struggling early with gusty conditions, Venus fell behind 5-3 before winning 11 consecutive points to take charge.

“Down that first set, it’s comforting to know if anything goes wrong, Serena Williams is going to play the second match,” Venus said.

The Americans were heavily favored because of the absence of Belgium’s top players, No. 1-ranked Justine Henin and No. 4 Kim Clijsters, who declined to take part.

Singles matchups will be reversed today, followed by the doubles. The winning team will face the winner of the Russia-Spain match in the semifinals following Wimbledon in July.

Russia took a 2-0 lead over Spain in Moscow. France and Italy, both playing at home, also took 2-0 leads.

Serena took a 5-0 lead after only 17 minutes, and when Maes held for 5-1, the Belgian grinned at the achievement. Serena struggled with her serve but slammed backhand winners into both corners and moved well, showing no signs of the groin injury that forced her to retire from a match last week at Charleston, S.C.

Venus started more slowly – and was three points from losing the first set.

Horse racing

Slew’s Tizzy wins Lexington Stakes

Long shot Slew’s Tizzy took control early and pulled away to win the $325,000 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

The 3-year-old colt, racing for the first time without blinkers, went off at 40-1 before jockey Robby Albarado guided the horse through the field to give trainer Greg Fox his first stakes victory.

Slew’s Tizzy covered the 1 1/16-mile course in 1:43.20 and paid $83.00, $29.60 and $13.60.

Starbase, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, held off Forty Grams for second.