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Federer survives surprise struggle with German giant

Roger Federer avoided a rare second straight loss, holding on to beat Michael Berrer of Germany 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Tuesday in the first round of the Swiss Indoors.

Federer lost to David Nalbandian on Sunday in the Madrid Masters final. The last time the top-ranked Swiss player lost two straight Tour matches was in May 2003, falling to Mark Philippoussis in the third round of the Hamburg Masters and losing to Luis Horna in the first round of the French Open.

"My focus is on Basel, not last week," Federer said. "That said, it's a probably a good thing to get right back into it after a final loss."

Federer led 3-0 in the first set with Berrer scoring only two points. The German finally scored a point on Federer's serve in the seventh game and had only 10 points in the set.

But Federer struggled with his serve in the second set and Berrer took a 4-0 lead. The 12-time Grand Slam champion missed a chance to break back at 2-0, squandering a break point when he returned the ball into the net.

The pair held serve until 3-2 into the third, when Federer got a break point when the German botched a drop shot, then double-faulted.

Federer wasted his first match point by sending a backhand into the net, but hit an ace on his next one.

"The conditions are different here, slower," Federer said. "The balls are really heavy here. It's hard to put away a winner. I'm glad I came through in the end."

Second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile downed Jerome Haehnel of France 7-6 (5), 6-4, and Agustin Calleri of Argentina upset third-seeded David Ferrer 6-4, 7-6 (3) to also advance.

Benjamin Becker of Germany had 19 aces in defeating Arnaud Clement of France 7-6 (0), 7-6 (3) in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix on Tuesday.

Becker will play another Frenchman, Marc Gicquel, in the second round.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Argentinian Juan Monaco beat Frenchman Sebastien de Chaunac 6-7 (11), 6-3, 7-6 (3). Monaco next plays countryman Diego Hartfield, who ousted Nicolas Mahut of France 7-6 (8), 6-4.

Ai Sugiyama of Japan rallied to upset eighth-seeded Sybille Bammer 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-0 on Tuesday in the first round of the Generali Ladies.

Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder advanced by beating Aravane Rezai 6-4, 6-3.
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