Monte Carlo, April 17:

Roger Federer labored to a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) win over Andreas Seppi of Italy in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion made several unforced errors before sealing victory on his third match point when Seppi sent a forehand into the net. The top-ranked Swiss star will next play Lee Hyung-taik after the South Korean upset 13th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 6-3.

In first-round matches, No 11 Richard Gasquet needed six match points to beat Fernando Verdasco of Spain 7-5, 6-7 (12), 7-6 (3). The Frenchman had five chances to win the match in the second set, but Verdasco forced a decider after winning only his second tiebreaker of the season from 10 attempts.

“He (Verdasco) was hitting the ball so hard,” Gasquet said. He has one of the best forehands in the world. It was a hard match. I’m happy to have fought until the end.” Gasquet had another chance to clinch the match when serving at 5-4 up in the third set, but Verdasco broke him with a crosscourt backhand to make it 5-5 and then held serve.

Gasquet held serve and then held his nerve in the tiebreaker to force a sixth match point which he took with a passing forehand down the line. Gasquet, a 2005 semi-finalist, next plays Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.

Also, No 10 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic was leading 5-0 against Nicolas Almagro when the Spaniard pulled out with an undisclosed injury. No 12 David Ferrer of Spain beat Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-1; Benjamin Becker of Germany downed Sweden’s Thomas Johansson 7-6 (4), 6-2; Nicolas Massu of Chile beat Filippo Volandri of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany defeated Romania’s Andrei Pavel 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, and Argentina’s Sergio Roitman topped Jurgen Melzer of Austria 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Earlier, eighth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain withdrew from the singles after injuring his back in a doubles match with brother Jamie.