Day three of the Masters Series event in Monte Carlo and the usual big guns are out in force playing their second-round matches.

Roger Federer, the world number one, is up against Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, a player ranked a lowly 137 in the world and, at the age of 30, hardly likely to improve his game.

Of course, like most Spaniards, Hidalgo is no mug on the European clay courts and it is fair to say he has had all his success on the red stuff.

'Federer will be lucky to reach the later stages of this year's French Open campaign - don't be suprised if a youngster gets the better of him in the early rounds'


Federer won the first set convincingly 6-1 and everything looked like going to plan - but Hidalgo had other ideas. The Spaniard took the second set and was a double break up in the third before Federer came back to defeat the qualifier in a final-set tie-break.

Hardly the form of a potential French Open champion is it? Federer can't even say he hadn't had much practice on the surface as only on Sunday he won the tournament in Estoril. Even then he struggled through the draw, dropping sets to low-ranked opposition before winning the final when his opponent had to retire.

He was far from impressive last week and today he was even less so. How can anyone think that Federer has what it takes to win his first French Open? What is even more worrying is that Ramirez Hidalgo is only the 17th highest ranked Spaniard in the world, so Federer has a long way to go!

On the other hand, Rafael Nadal, the tournament's defending champion, breezed through to the third round. Playing his first clay court tournament since last year, Nadal destroyed his highly-experienced opponent - former top-20 player Mario Ancic.

The Croat is coming back from injury but Nadal just blew him away. It was over almost before it had started, Nadal winning 6-0 6-3. Rafa's game is the model of perfection on the clay court and he looks to be as dominant as he has ever been. Only David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic are likely to get close to the world number two and prentender to Federer's throne.

Nadal is far superior to the Swiss master on clay. In fact, I wouldn't even rank Federer in the world's top 10 clay court players at the moment. He will be lucky to reach the later stages of this year's French Open campaign - don't be suprised if a youngster gets the better of him in the early rounds.

The problem for Federer is that not many players are scared of him when playing on clay. On hardcourts and grass Federer often intimidates his opponents and this helps him before the matches even start. However, on clay some players feel they have a mental advantage over the world number one.

There is no doubt that Federer is an all-time great tennis player, if not the best there has ever been, but to put him up there as a favourite for this year's French Open is a big mistake.

He is certain to have much more success in the future, but Federer should look elsewhere than on the clay for this success to happen. Nadal is just too good.