World number one Roger Federer beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 in an entertaining second-round match at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday.
Top seed Federer, recuperating from glandular fever and without a title this year, surprisingly offered the world number 65 Monfils seven break-point chances, but never lost his serve.
"I tried to play in an aggressive way," Federer, who broke Monfils serve in the eighth game of the first set and the third game of the second set, told reporters.
"I couldn't really chip and charge the way I wanted to do because he's improved his second serve. I played well on the big points."
Andy Murray, seeded 13th, struggling with his serve throughout and failed to take advantage of two match points before losing to Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-2, 2-6, 7-6.
Murray has won titles this year at Doha and Marseille but having just watched Ancic, serving at 4-6, save one match point with a winning forehand volley, Murray double-faulted away his second opportunity to close out the match.
"That was just a bad serve," Murray said. "It was the first time on tour that I've lost a match when I've had match points. So that's pretty disappointing."
American Andy Roddick also struggled to find his form but came through a tough 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
STUNNING CROSSCOURT
With Troicki serving at 4-5 in the final game, Roddick hit a stunning crosscourt forehand on the line in the first point of the game and four points later he broke serve to win the match.
"I was pretty lucky," sixth seed Roddick said. "I didn't even see it when I hit it.
"I heard people yell and scream afterwards and I figured that was a good thing. As far as freak show trick shots, that's up there. You don't hit shots like that every day."
Women's world number two Ana Ivanovic breezed past Frenchwoman Emilie Loit 6-1 6-2 in her second-round match on Saturday afternoon.
Ivanovic, who posted 20 winners to six for Loit, was on top of her serve and never faced a break point in the 45-minute match.
Earlier in the day, Lindsay Davenport's return to the Sony Ericsson Open for the first time in five years proved successful as she won 6-2, 6-1 against Camille Pin of France.
"I would have never thought that five years ago would have been my last time I played here," Davenport said. "But I didn't play for a couple of years, got injured, was pregnant. I mean, just a lot of things got in the way.
Making his debut at the Sony Ericsson Open, recent Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was tested by Austrian Jurgen Melzer before winning 6-7, 7-5, 6-1.
In other men's second-round action, world number 61 Dudi Sela of Israel upset 14th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-6 6-1.
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