Roger Federer made a difficult start to his claycourt season with a 7-6 7-6 second round victory over Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi at the Monte Carlo Masters Series on Tuesday, while Marat Safin slumped to a surprise defeat.

The world number one will take on South Korean Lee Hyung-taik, who beat Russian 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-3, for a quarter-final spot.

Following an early exchange of breaks, both players held serve to force a tiebreak which the Swiss won 7-4 when Seppi sent a forehand long.

Federer, who slumped to back-to-back defeats by Argentine Guillermo Canas in the Indian Wells and Miami Masters Series, saved two break points in the sixth game of the second set and the players headed to another tiebreak which Federer won 8-6.

"It was tough. There were a lot of bad bounces and he (Seppi) had already three matches in his legs," Federer told reporters.

"But winning two tiebreaks is always a good feeling. However, it is just a pity I could not put him away earlier. He is tough from the baseline."

Later, former world number one Safin made an early exit when he was beaten 0-6 7-6 6-4 by Belgian Kristof Vliegen.

The Russian was heading towards an easy win but Vliegen rebelled and saved four match points before grabbing the second set's tiebreak 10-8.

He clinched the win on his third match point on Safin's serve to set up a potential meeting with holder Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Nadal, who is on a 62-match winning streak on clay, starts his tournament with a second round match against Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela on Wednesday.

GASQUET BATTLES

Frenchman Richard Gasquet battled into the second round with a 7-5 6-7 7-6 victory over Fernando Verdasco.

The 11th seed wasted five match points in the second set before ending the left-handed Spaniard's resistance in three hours 20 minutes.

Gasquet will play Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, who saw off Spaniard Albert Portas 7-6 7-5.

"I ran out of gas in the second set and I have to say the Davis Cup defeat against Russia hurt me a lot," Gasquet said in a courtside interview.

"But it is a beautiful tournament here and I had no choice but to win this match."

Spaniard David Ferrer strolled into the second round with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Frenchman Gilles Simon.

The 12th seed had too much claycourt experience for Simon and wrapped up the win on his first match point in 68 minutes.

The world number 16 now meets another Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, who reached the French Open quarter-finals last year.

"I felt really good from the start, which explains why the win was wrapped up quickly," Ferrer said.

German Benjamin Becker also booked his place in the second round with a 7-6 6-2 win over Swede Thomas Johansson to set up a meeting with Czech 14th seed Tomas Berdych, who benefited from Nicolas Almagro's retirement in their first round match.

Eighth seed Briton Andy Murray pulled out of his second round match against Marc Gicquel with a back injury. Murray's place in the draw was taken by Spanish lucky loser Guillermo Garcia Lopez, who beat the Frenchman 6-4 1-6 6-3.

(China Daily via Reuters April 19, 2007)