“I’ve never played him before, so of course I was always going to get surprised in some points just because I didn’t know what his favourite shot was,” he said. “But I realised very quickly what his pattern was, especially on the serve, as well. Even though he had a good serve today, he had a good few games, but I think I did well today. It was a great start to the tournament.”

The 13-time Grand Slam champion next faces Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer, a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2 over France’s Fabrice Santoro. Djokovic booked his third-round berth with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-2.

Serbia’s Djokovic saved all six break points he faced, breaking Dancevic three times en route to victory in 70 minutes. Djokovic, the 2007 titlist here, improved on his performance last year when as defending champion he lost his opening match to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

“I feel like this is an important week for me to do well, especially now that I have matches again under my belt.

“I’m into the third round here, so I feel like things are going well for me again,” Federer said.

In women’s second-round matches, second-seeded Russian Dinara Safina, who has a chance to leave here with the No. 1 ranking, coasted into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Mathilde Johansson of France. Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, who lost her opening match at Indian Wells, bounced back with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 triumph over countrywoman Anastasia Pivovarova.

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy made a spectacular start to their campaign event as they stormed into the doubles pre-quarterfinals after a crushing 6-2, 6-2 win over Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Monaco.

The fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair took just 46 minutes to dispatch the Chile pair in the first round here. In the women’s event, Sania Mirza and Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Jung Chuang earned a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 win over the Czech combination of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova Zahlavova to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

The results: Second round: Rainer Schuettler bt Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Andy Roddick bt Diego Junqueira 6-1, 6-1; Gilles Simon bt Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-2; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Agustin Calleri 6-1, 6-1; Tomas Berdych bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Roger Federer bt Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-2; Tommy Robredo bt Jan Hernych 6-4, 6-4; Novak Djokovic bt Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-2; Dmitry Tursunov bt Mikhail Kukushkin 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3; James Blake bt Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4; Gael Monfils bt Michael Russell 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3; Marat Safin bt Oscar Hernandez 6-4, 2-6, 6-1; Nicolas Kiefer bt Fabrice Santoro 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2; Taylor Dent bt Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(7); Robert Kendrick bt Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2.

Women: Second round: Ana Ivanovic bt Mariya Koryttseva 6-0, 6-3; Victoria Azarenka bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2; Caroline Wozniacki bt Jelena Dokic 6-3, 5-7, 6-2; Anastasiya Yakimova bt Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-3; Amelie Mauresmo bt Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 1-6, 6-2; Anna Chakvetadze bt Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1; Agnes Szavay bt Francesca Schiavone 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Carla Suarez Navarro bt Nuria Llagostera Vives 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3); Dinara Safina bt Mathilde Johansson 6-1, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Tamira Paszek 2-6, 7-5, 6-1; Patty Schnyder bt Lucie Safarova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Elena Dementieva bt Anastasia Pivovarova 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; Nicole Vaidisova bt Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-0; Flavia Pennetta bt Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 7-5; Alisa Kleybanova bt Galina Voskoboeva 6-2, 6-4; Samantha Stosur bt Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-1.

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