Top-ranked Roger Federer launched a bid for his first Nasdaq-100 Open title by beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-1 in the second round at Key Biscayne, Florida, on Saturday.

　　"It's always hard to start a tournament," he said. "But I actually felt quite comfortable and quite confident going into today's match."

　　That's understandable, given that Federer's record is 43-1 since the start of the US Open last August.

　　He has won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments but seeks a breakthrough at Key Biscayne, where his best finish was as the runner-up to Andre Agassi in 2002. The humid, 32-degree Celsius weather that sapped players on Saturday is often part of the challenge at the 12-day event.

　　"Everywhere you touch, it's wet," Federer said. "Here you really can see who is fit and who is not fit, I have the feeling. I felt good out there today, so this is a good sign for the rest of the tournament."

　　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 in California last week because of a sore left toe.

　　"I felt it a little bit early," Agassi said. "But when I pushed through it, it never got worse, and that was reassuring."

　　American qualifier Jeff Morrison reached the third round by upsetting No. 10-seeded Joachim Johansson of Sweden 7-6 (3), 6-4. Morrison, ranked 108th, came into the tournament with a 0-5 record in 2005.

　　"One of my biggest wins," said Morrison. "I've struggled this year up to this point. I just needed to keep the faith, and I did."

　　Morrison lost just one point on his first serve, never faced a break point and hit 15 aces to nine for the 1.98-meter Johansson, who has won two tournaments this year.

　　Injury-hit 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. The injury occurred in the next-to-last game of his opening match last Thursday.

　　No. 4 Guillermo Coria, runner-up last year to Andy Roddick, 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. All seeded players had a first-round bye.

　　Mariano Zabaleta beat Paradorn 7-6 (5), 6-3 and will play Federer next. Britain's Tim Henman also progressed with an efficient 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Czech Ivo Minar.

　　"It's really hot out there. Those are conditions where you don't want to be out there any longer than necessary," said sixth seed Henman.

　　Also advancing to the third round was and No. 7 Gaston Gaudio of Argentina.

　　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 US 6-2, 6-3.

　　(The Associated Press)