Federer downs Hanescu after wobble

Three-times champion Roger Federer survived a second-set wobble to overcome Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-3 6-7 6-1 in the second round of the Indian Wells ATP tournament today.

While the Swiss world number one had to work harder than expected in his first match back since winning the Australian Open in January, Britain's Andy Murray shook off a bit of rust to outclass Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-4.

In other matches, sixth seed Swede Robin Soderling crushed Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan 6-2 6-4 and seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick eased past qualifier Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4 6-4.

Federer, seeking a record fourth title at Indian Wells, appeared on track for a clinical victory when he broke Hanescu in the second game before winning the opening set in 30 minutes.

However, the 16-times grand slam champion was surprisingly broken in the sixth game of the second when the Romanian struck a backhand return winner down the line.

Although Federer fought back to 6-6, he fell behind 0-3 in the tiebreak, which Hansecu won 7-5 to level the match when the Swiss hit a backhand long.

Normal order was restored in the third set, though, as Federer broke his opponent in the second and sixth games to seal victory. He will next meet 27th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

"I was happy with the way I played," Federer, 28, told reporters. "Not having played for so long, I thought it was a good match overall.

"I missed some of the clutch serving when I really needed it, couldn't really get that one perfect serve I was sometimes looking for, but that's something that happens.

"Victor did well to hang in there because I was all over him for at least a set-and-a-half and I could have made a difference really early in the match, and I didn't.

"I didn't play the best tiebreaker, but still had a small chance," added the Swiss who is back to full fitness after suffering from a lung infection last month.

"I remained calm in the third, and I played good tennis."

Murray, although not at his very best, broke Seppi in the seventh game of the second set when the Italian pushed a backhand volley wide before wrapping up the win in 86 minutes.

The fourth-seeded Scot ended the match with a crunching forehand winner down the line on a sunny, breezy afternoon and will next meet American Michael Russell.

"It was a pretty scrappy match today," Murray, 22, said after competing for the first time on the ATP Tour since losing in the second round of last month's Dubai Championships.

"There wasn't a particular point where I felt in a lot of trouble but it's just because you've not played for a while.

"Obviously I started the year well in Australia and you remember the feelings you had there," said Murray, who was beaten by Federer in the Australian Open final.

Earlier, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro upset 23rd-seeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-5 7-6 and Baghdatis eased past Frenchman Arnaud Clement 7-6 6-1.

- Reuters