INDIAN WELLS, California: World number one Roger Federer shrugged off a second-set lapse to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open Sunday with a victory over Victor Hanescu.
Federer said he was pleased with his first match since his Australian Open triumph, even if he wasn't quite firing on all cylinders in his 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1 victory.
Hanescu was Federer's second-round victim in Melbourne, where Federer claimed his 16th Grand Slam singles title.
Federer, who won the Indian Wells Masters 1000 title in 2004, 2005 and 2006, appeared headed to the kind of decisive victory over Hanescu that he posted in Melbourne when he broke the Romanian in the second game and went on to clinch the opening set without facing a break point.
But he ran into trouble in the second when Hanescu reeled off three straight games, including a service break, to take a 5-2 lead. Federer responded by winning three straight games to level the set at 5-5 as they went to the tiebreaker.
In the decider, Hanescu jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead. Federer closed the gap, but after knotting the score at 5-5 Federer netted a volley to give Hanescu a set point that he converted when Federer's backhand service return sailed long.
Federer next faces Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, a 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 winner over France's Arnaud Clement.
Andy Murray, who fell to Federer in the Australian Open final, booked his third-round berth with a "scrappy" 6-4, 6-4 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi.
The fourth-seeded Briton, who was runner-up here last year, got off to an erratic start but found a groove with his serve in the second set to triumph in an hour and 26 minutes.
Other men's seeds to advance Sunday included sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan, and seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick.
Roddick dispatched Taiwanese qualifier Lu Yen-Hsun 6-4, 6-4.
In women's third-round action Australian Open semi-finalist Zheng Jie of China outlasted 2006 titlist and 10th seed Maria Sharapova 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in a gritty battle lasting two hours and 43 minutes.
Other seeded women advanced on cue, including second-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki who beat Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva also advanced, downing Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-2, and fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised into the round of 16 with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Argentina's Gisela Dulko.
