Associated Press

Key Biscayne, March 27:

Top-ranked Roger Federer began a bid for his first Nasdaq-100 Open title by beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-1 in the second round on Saturday. In women’s play, top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo overcame a slow start to beat Russian teenager Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. The 18-year-old Kirilenko faded in the two-hour midday match and committed 16 unforced errors in the final set. Six-time champion Andre Agassi beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-4.

The No 9-seeded Agassi lost only three points on his first serve in his first match since he withdrew from the Pacific Life Open last week because of a sore left toe. American qualifier Jeff Morrison reached the third round by upsetting No 10-seeded Joachim Johansson of Sweden 7-6, 6-4. Morrison, ranked 108th, came into the tournament with a 0-5 record in 2005.

Injury-plagued Mark Philippoussis of Australia withdrew before his second-round match against No 15 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile with a torn ligament in his left ankle. No 4 Guillermo Coria beat Davide Sanguinetti of Italy 6-1, 6-4. American Taylor Dent, seeded 31st, reached the third round at Key Biscayne for the first time and will play Coria next. Seeded men losing their opening matches included No 19 Feliciano Lopez, No 22 Nicolas Kiefer and No 30 Paradorn Srichaphan. Mariano Zabaleta beat Paradorn 7-6, 6-3 and will play Federer next. Also advancing to the third round were No 6 Tim Henman and No 7 Gaston Gaudio.

Seeded women losing included No 10 Nadia Petrova, No 18 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro, No 20 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, and No 32 Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic. Anna Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro beat Petrova 6-4, 7-5. Three top Russians advanced — No 4 Elena Dementieva, No 5 Anastasia Myskina and No 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Unseeded Kim Clijsters, last week’s Indian Wells champion, won her ninth match in a row beating No 24 Amy Frazier of the United States 6-2, 6-3.