BASEL (Switzerland), Oct 22: Roger Federer made heavy work of his first-round match in his home city tournament in Basel on Tuesday, missing three match points before seeing off American world No 86 Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.

Federer cruised through the opening set but failed to convert three consecutive break points near the end of the second. Reynolds saved match point on his own serve in the resulting tie-break, going on to win it 8-6, breaking the Federer serve on the final point.

Federer’s own service game was never under threat but he again struggled to finish off his opponent, eventually converting the last of five break points to take a 3-1 third set lead.

He missed a further chance to break after hitting a forehand long in Reynolds’ next service game and then squandered two more match points when serving at 5-3 before finally wrapping up his win.

The world No 2 will next face the winner of Wednesday’s first-round meeting between Argentine Eduardo Schwank and Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen – the man Federer beat to win his second straight Basel title in 2007.

Second seed David Nalbandian and third seed Juan Martin del Potro both enjoyed comfortable first-round wins on Tuesday.

Argentina’s Nalbandian beat Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-2, while compatriot Del Potro completed a 6-2, 6-4 win over Swiss qualifier George Bastl.

Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych was less successful, suffering a 6-4, 7-5 upset against Italian world No 42 Simone Bolelli.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Stephane Bohli (Switzerland) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Bobby Reynolds (US) 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3; Oscar Hernandez (Spain) bt Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic) 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1; 3-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) bt George Bastl (Switzerland) 6-2, 6-4; 2-David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-4, 6-2; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Simone Bolelli (Italy) bt 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-4, 7-5; Andreas Beck (Germany) bt Nicolas Devilder (France) 6-4, 6-4.

DAVYDENKO BEATS

ILLNESS

ST PETERSBURG (Russia): Second seed Nikolay Davydenko shrugged off illness to reach the second round of the St Petersburg Open on Tuesday.The Russian, who clinched his place in the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai on Monday, had to work hard to see off the 100th-ranked Chris Guccione 6-4, 6-4.

World No 6 Davydenko struggled to subdue the lanky Australian, whose powerful serve caused problems for the Russian before he sealed victory after 77 minutes.

Spain’s third seed and last year’s runner-up Fernando Verdasco also advanced, overcoming a dreadful start to eliminate Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who won here in 2004, thrashed Spaniard Ivan Navarro 6-2, 6-1 but seventh seed and 2006 champion Mario Ancic of Croatia was dumped out by Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Ancic’s compatriot Marin Cilic, seeded fifth, was also sent home, losing to Russian qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.

Top seed Andy Murray, fresh from winning the Madrid Masters on Sunday, was slated to begin the defence of his St Petersburg title against Serbia’s Viktor Troicki on Wednesday.

Results:

First round: Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-0, 6-2; Mischa Zverev (Germany) bt Florent Serra (France) 6-4, 6-2; 2-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Chris Guccione (Australia) 6-4, 6-4; Karlis Lejnieks (Latvia) bt Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Russia) 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; 3-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; 4-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt

Ivan Navarro (Spain) 6-2, 6-1; Mikhail Kukushkin (Russia) bt 5-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6); Jeremy Chardy (France) bt 7-Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Michail Elgin (Russia) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-4, 6-4.

BARTOLI TOILS

LINZ (Austria): French sixth seed Marion Bartoli needed seven match points to overcome the challenge of Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 and reach the second round of the Linz Open on Tuesday.

Bartoli took two hours 41-minutes to edge through, leading the final set tiebreak 6-2 before eventually closing it out 10-8.

Bartoli set the tone for the match when she hit three double faults en route to surrendering her serve in the opening game. With both players struggling to hold serve, Bartoli dug deep to secure the first set.

The errors continued to fly off Bartoli’s racket and a fifth double fault handed Sugiyama a double break and a 3-0 lead in the second set.

After Bartoli took time out to receive treatment on her right wrist, Sugiyama stood firm to level the contest.

The duo continued to trade breaks in the decider but despite twice serving for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, Sugiyama failed to clinch victory and allowed Bartoli to fight back.

Former champion and fifth seed Nadia Petrova also had problems against Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko before emerging with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory. The Russian appeared to be in total control after sweeping to a 5-0 lead in the second set but Bondarenko, who won the Birmingham title in June, refused to give up.

She won the next three games and came within two points of getting back on serve before Petrova recovered and closed out the set with an ace.

In the final set, Petrova found her range to win the last six games for the loss of only five points.

Bondarenko’s sister Alona ensured that the family enjoyed some success when she beat Russian qualifier Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-3.

Results:

First round: Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) 6-4, 6-2; 5-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; 6-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8); Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spain) bt Samantha Stosur (Australia) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) bt Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) 6-2, 7-5; Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-3, 6-3.—Reuters