Federer Struggles Through Opener in Tokyo

"I didn't know his game at all, I'd never seen him play," Federer said. "It always takes time to figure a player out. He has a good game, he served well and he made hardly any unforced errors. That made it hard to get a grip on the match. Thank God I have the ability to play well when it really matters. That's what got me through in the end."

Federer, winner of three Slams on the year, upped his 2006 record to 73-5, and will next meet big-serving South African Wesley Moodie, who defeated Austrian lefty Stefan Koubek 6-3, 6-4.

Second-seeded Tommy Robredo earned his 11th victory in his last 14 matches with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Yen-Hsun Lu. The Spaniard will next play No. 16 seed Vince Spadea, a three-set victor over Satoshi Iwabuchi.

Third-seeded Mario Ancic had little trouble blasting Kenneth Carlsen 6-1, 6-4. The win sets up a meeting for Ancic with former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler. The German Schuettler took out No. 16 seed Paul Goldstein 6-3, 6-2. Ancic has now won 22 of his last 25 matches since returning from injury.

Also posting wins Wednesday was the No. 5 seed Jarkko Nieminen who bested Germany Lars Burgsmuller 7-5, 7-6(2). The Finn next meets No. 12 seed Argentine Juan Monaco, a winner over countryman Edgardo Massa 7-6(4), 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Andy Murray wasn't so lucky in crashing out to Jiri Novak 6-3, 7-6(1). Murray rallied back from a 4-1 deficit in the second set but it was not enough in the pair's first career meeting.

"Every single young player goes through a patch where he's not playing well," Murray said. "You can't expect to get to the semifinals every week -- unless you're Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. They are the only two who can do it."

Novak will next meet No. 14 seed Benjamin Becker.

Red-hot Russian Dmitry Tursunov needed three sets to defeat Jimmy Wang 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 for a third-round clash against No. 9 seed Hyung-Taik Lee. And Japanese wildcard Takao Suzuki beat No. 8 seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-4.