ROME, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Roger Federer launched the bid for his first Rome Masters title with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Juan Ignacio Chela here on Monday.

    The top-ranked Swiss, who failed to win the claycourt tournament in six attempts, won his opener in an hour over the Argentine.

    "The score, I think, tells it all," said Federer who missed last year's tournament due to a foot injury.

    "I was already playing excellent in practice, so to play well in the match like this is a very good feeling. I'm into the tournament now, and that's a big relief."

    Federer will next face home favourite Potito Starace who stopped Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 and 6-1.

    Of the opening day, third seed Ivan Ljubicic and seventh seed James Blake became the early casualties, losing to Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty and Frenchman Florent Serra respectively.

    Ljubicic, the world number four, held a five to one record against Hrbaty, all but one of the matches had gone to a deciding set.

    In Rome, it was till the 10th game of the third set that produced the winner after the Croat saved the first match point with an ace and Hrbaty produced a forehand winner to score a 5-7, 7-6 and 6-4 victory.

    "At least now I'll have six more days to train myself for the next tournament in Hamburg," said Ljubicic. "The more I play on clay, the more confident I feel."

    Blake, who reached the final at Indian Wells in March, never found range on his shots as he lost 6-4 and 7-6 to Serra.

    Second-seeded reigning champion Rafael Nadal will begin his campaign against 2004 winner Carlos Moya on Tuesday. Enditem