• Madrid Masters

Federer through safely in Madrid

Roger Federer did not have it all his own way against Benjamin Becker but did enough to book a place in the thrid round © Getty Images

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• Profile: Roger Federer

Defending champion and world No. 1 Roger Federer never reached his fluent best but played the big points well in his 6-2 7-6(4) win over Bemjamin Becker.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion has not enjoyed the best of seasons so far, losing four of his last nine matches, but always looked in control against his German opponent. World No. 46 Becker looked shocked by Federer's pace and power after coming through a relatively pedestrian first-round match with 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya.

The Swiss star raced through his first service game to love and pounced on some tentative serving by his German opponent to open up a 2-0 lead inside four minutes. The only surprise in a one-sided first set was that Becker held serve against his lively opponent.

Becker recovered bravely in the second and held his own but never threatened his oponent's serve. Federer set up match point with a superbly athletic backhand volley at 5-4. What followed was most unlike the 28-year-old. Chasing up a mis-hit backhand, Federer blazed a mid-court forehand into the top of the net. It mattered little in the end though as he completed a straight sets win by winning a tie-break and the Swiss star was thankful of the test Becker provided.

"It was good to win but it was good for me to face a tough opponent," Federer told Sky Sports. "My match practice has been lacking and I haven't played that much since the Australian Open.

"I had a lung infection and couldn't play all of February and for four of five weeks I didn't play any tennis. I think that showed in Miami and that showed when I lost. Today when I missed a shot for match point I thought it was going to happen all over again.

"It was very important for me to come through a match like this and to finish it up in a tie-break was tough but good because it made me compete and I feel like I'm playing well right now."

Federer was joined in the third round by Barcelona champion Fernando Verdasco, who held his serve to beat the big-serving Ivo Karlovic 7-6(5) 6-3. The world No. 9 lost just three points on his serve in the second set as he sealed the victory after an hour and 40 minutes on court.

Meanwhile, in the first-round matches, Rome Masters semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis made a winning return to competitive action with a convincing 7-5 6-1 win over Albert Montanes.

The 21-year-old has not played since becoming the first player this season to win a set on clay against Rafael Nadal at the Rome Masters. Nonetheless, the Latvian looked sharp around the court and dispatched a number of incisive shots off both flanks deep into the corners. Montanes, who beat Federer in the Estoril Open semi-final, played with plenty of spirit and recorded a better first-serve percentage than Gulbis over the two sets, but the Spaniard had no answer to his opponent's clever changes in pace and length.

After his triumph at the Serbia Open on Sunday, Sam Querrey crashed out at the first round to Spanish wildcard Daniel Munoz-De La Nava. Querrey, who won his first title on clay in Belgrade, was undone by a player ranked No. 315 in the world 6-7(3) 6-3 7-5.

The man Querrey beat in the final, John Isner looked set to follow his fellow American out, but battled from a set down to beat Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus 5-7 6-2 6-2.

2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis was given a stern test by Marco Chiudinelli but got the job done in straight sets, while Stanislas Warwrinka saved three break points as he advanced past Marcel Granollers.

Pablo Cuevas managed two games before retiring injured in his match against Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela. Chela's fellow countryman Eduardo Schwank looked in good form as he dismantled Paul-Henri Mathieu's fragile ground stokes en route to a 6-3 6-3 win.

Russia's Igor Andreev was also forced to withdraw from his first-round game with Victor Hanescu. The Russian won the first set 6-3 but looked to be struggling with reaching up to serve in the second and suffered two breaks before retiring injured.

Elsewhere, Philipp Petzschner overcame a second-set stumble to progress to the second round with a gritty 6-1 4-6 7-5 victory over Fabio Fognini, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez came out on top in the round's all-Spanish clash, downing Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3 6-4, and Brazilain Thomaz Bellucci made light work of Pere Riba in a comfortable 7-6(5) 6-1 win.

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