BANGKOK, Sept 28: Roger Federer was made to battle for the upper hand against Brazilian Marcos Daniel as he began the defence of his Thailand Open title, hurling his racket to the ground in frustration before winning 7-6 6-4.

Lleyton Hewitt also struggled to overcome a dogged opponent before reaching the second round on Wednesday.

Federer’s frustration was understandable as 133rd-ranked Daniel refused to be intimidated by the stature of his opponent and rallied well from the baseline.

At one stage the Swiss world number one came within two points of allowing Daniel to serve for the opening set, and he had to wait until his eighth break point before a backhand volley error from Daniel at 5-5 gave him the first break of the match.

Even then he dropped his own serve, and just one mini-break — on the first point of the tiebreak — decided the set in Federer’s favour.

Several break points also went begging in the second set, before Federer finally claimed victory on his third match point.

Earlier, Lleyton Hewitt and Tommy Haas struggled to overcome dogged opponents before reaching the second round.

Hewitt survived an enterprising challenge from Czech Lukas Dlouhy to win 6-3 3-6 7-5 while Haas edged past Irakli Labadze 6-3 4-6 6-4.

Australian Hewitt appeared set for a runaway victory as he swept to a 4-1 lead, but once Dlouhy settled he offered a real challenge.

Fourth seed Haas was never able to stamp his authority on his Georgian opponent, who struck some stinging returns, served well and showed some fine touches at the net.

Haas also served well and fired 10 aces, but he showed only a few glimpses of his blistering backhand.

Labadze held off two break points at 1-0 and then broke to lead 2-1, but Haas settled and claimed five straight games to take the opening set.

Haas also held the edge in the second set, failing to break for 1-0 but then breaking in the fifth game and holding for a 4-2 lead.

Results:

Robby Ginepri bt Nicolas Thomann 6-3 7-6(4); Roger Federer bt Marcos Daniel -7-6(3) 6-4; Lleyton Hewitt bt Lukas Dlouhy 6-3 3-6 7-5; Luis Horna bt Ivo Minar 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov bt Alex Calatrava 2-6 6-3 7-5; Tommy Haas bt Irakli Labadze 6-3 4-6 6-4; Justin Gimelstob bt Nicolas Lapentti 6-4 6-3

Vietnam Open

HO CHI MINH CITY: Results in the US$380,000 Vietnam Open ATP tennis tournament on Wednesday: