Federer found himself 3-4 down in the final set against Gaston Gaudio before squeezing through 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in a match played under the tented centre court roof on a damp and drizzly day

For a while it seemed that the all-court game of the brilliant Swiss player would overwhelm the baseline hitting and counter-hitting of the Argentine claycourt expert, but Gaudio began to make Federer play longer rallies more frequently in the second set.

He established a 3-0 lead, lost it, and then made another hard-working push to level the match, and made a second recovery from 0-2 down in the final set.

It was then that Federer cleverly found a way to make his all round skills count.

He had Gaudio at 30-40 at three-all, only for the unseeded player to escape, but when Federer earned two break points at four-all he converted the first of them, then serving boldly out for the match, finishing with an ace.

"These are matches you have to win in heavy conditions from the baseline," said Federer.

"I don't have a big enough game with my serve to get cheap points.

"So I have to have a good game plan and hit a lot of balls. I definitely have to mix it up because I am not going to rally 20 shots and my opponents know it.

"I try to be aggressive in the first few shots and then start to grind it out. It's difficult because it's really heavy out there and there are a lot of bad bounces. But today my plan worked and I'm pretty happy with the way I played."

Later Carlos Moya, the seventh-seeded winner of last week's Masters Series tournament in Rome, survived a set point against him in the first set and single degree night-time temperatures to beat his fellow Spaniard David Sanchez 7-5, 6-4.