Roger Federer found himself in danger of a rare second successive defeat on Tuesday before recovering to beat Germany's Michael Berrer 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors.

American fourth seed James Blake kept on course for a place at the season-ending Masters Cup on Wednesday with a straightforward win over Spain's Oscar Hernandez 6-3, 6-4 to set up a second round encounter with towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych and sixth seed Guillermo Canas also progressed to the second round in Basel on Wednesday. Berdych beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, while Canas defeated fellow Argentine Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-3.

Spanish third seed David Ferrer and Argentine seventh seed Juan Ignacio Chela both failed to join Federer and Gonzalez in the second round.

Ferrer was upset 6-4, 7-6 by Argentine world number 51 Agustin Calleri while Chela was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Austrian world number 55 Stefan Koubek.

Ljubicic through
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic kept his slim hopes of reaching the season-ending Masters Cup alive with a 7-6, 7-6 victory over American Sam Querrey in the first round of the Lyon tournament on Tuesday, reports Reuters from Lyon. Frenchman Richard Gasquet started his late bid to qualify for the Masters with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Belgian Christophe Rochus.

Schiavone wins
Italy's Francesca Schiavone booked a second-round clash against top seed Anna Chakvetadze at the Linz Open on Tuesday, adds Reuters from Linz. She fought off a set point before prevailing 7-6, 6-3 over Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik and now faces the top-ranked Russian. Argentina's Gisela Dulko defeated Bosnian qualifier Sandra Martinovic 6-3, 6-3. Sybille Bammer was beaten by Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 2-6, 7-6, 6-0.