Roger Federer settled a score with his bogey player Guillermo Canas on Tuesday, easing his way into the third round of the Rome Masters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Canas went into the game as one of the few players on the tour to hold a winning record against the world number one, but Tuesday's result evens things up at three wins apiece.
Federer made an assured start, breaking Canas in the middle of the first set before producing two aces and a delightful drop shot to hold his serve to love at the end of it.
The Argentine came closest to breaking his opponent in the sixth game of the second set, when Federer was lucky to save a break point with a net-cord winner.
Federer, beaten finalist here in 2003 and 2006, never looked back, breaking Canas's serve twice in winning the last three games.
Rafael Nadal, aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title, will meet unseeded 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in a second-round match on Wednesday after his compatriot came from behind to beat German Nicolas Kiefer 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Sixth seed Andy Roddick breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over fellow American Mardy Fish.
The top U.S. player showed no signs of being rusty in his first game of the year on clay, polishing off the first set in 23 minutes.
Fish put up stiffer resistance at the start of the second, producing some thumping forehand winners before Roddick broke in the seventh game of the set.
