Federer - the title holder here - has yet to produce a significant winning run on clay this season with his defence of the French Open title starting in less than a fortnight.

Federer spent 81 minutes in overcoming Becker, who saved two match points in the 12th game of the second set before the contest went to a tiebreak.

Federer recovered from 1-3 down in the tiebreak and sealed his place in the third round on the first of three match points as the German, ranked 46 in the world, fired wide.

Last weekend Federer went down in straight sets to Alberto Montanes at Estoril in heavy, wet conditions.

But the Spaniard's celebrations lasted just a few days as he was beaten on Tuesday by Latvian Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 6-1. Also in the first round, Federer's 15th-seeded compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka beat Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-4, 6-4.

On the women's side, Australian Samantha Stosur maintained her fine run on clay by despatching the Rome champion, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Eighth-seeded Stosur prevailed 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 and will next play Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder, who upset Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Stosur, a French Open semi-finalist last year, has blossomed on the clay this spring, winning Charleston and reaching the final in Stuttgart.

She has won 13 of her last 14 matches on the surface.

"I tried to feel as comfortable as I could. It's pretty cold so it's hard to get the body going and really feel yourself into the match in some ways," said the winner.

"But I felt good out there and after getting that first set, I obviously felt a lot more comfortable.

"I started to be able to read what she was going to do a bit better. By the end I thought I played quite well.

"I knew she'd been playing well - you don't win Rome without playing well.

"I was expecting a tough match. We've played five times in the last five months, so we both knew what to expect.

"It was whoever did the better job on the day."

The Australian posted her 25th victory of the season with the elimination of Martinez Sanchez, who beat Serbia's Jelena Jankovic for the Italian title at the weekend.

Martinez Sanchez saved a match point to hold serve in the penultimate game before Stosur clinched the match.

Stosur has now beaten Martinez Sanchez three times in 2010, the previous two times on hardcourt at the Fed Cup and at the Indian Wells quarter-finals.

Schnyder, aged 31 and ranked 48th in the world, mounted a comeback to stun Radwanska for a 2-1 lead in their head-to-head series.

The Swiss broke six times in the two-hour victory, her tenth of a modest season against eight losses.

Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues knocked out another seed with her defeat of French number 12 Marion Bartoli 6-2, 6-0.