Plain sailing for Roger Federer in Monte Carlo

The Swiss star, seeded second after Novak Djokovic's withdrawal, slammed forehand winners and performed exquisite drop shots and lobs on the run that few other players can make look so easy.

"Clearly a good start for me into the clay-court season," Federer said. "I was able to do all the things I was hoping to. I was consistent; consistently dangerous, too. I felt well in the offence, and in the defence I was fine."

He outplayed Kohlschreiber from the start, breaking his serve to begin both sets and wrapping up the win in only 50 minutes. Kohlschreiber's dejected body language showed he knew it was all over after only a handful of games. Federer, who lost to top-ranked Rafael Nadal in the Monte Carlo final each year from 2006 to 2008, had Kohlschreiber scampering helplessly around centre court with a mixture of shots that were beyond the German's reach.

"I managed to vary the game well and not make too many mistakes," said Federer, whose only title win this year came at the Qatar Open in January.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion broke Kohlschreiber twice in each set, saved the only break point he faced with an ace, and sealed victory with his fifth ace of the match to improve to 6-0 against the German.

Federer, who trained with Kohlschreiber last summer, has only ever lost one set to him - in a tiebreaker at Wimbledon two years ago. "I think he can play a lot better than he did today," Federer said. "Sometimes there are opponents it works really well against. Others, you realise you have to work the point differently. I know how good Philipp is and how heavy his ball actually is. I was actually quite surprised I was having no problems with his serve."

Federer clinched the opening set when Kohlschreiber sent a forehand long and, against the backdrop of the glittering Mediterranean, his play continued to sparkle in the second set. He hit a lob on the run from the back of the court, then sprinted to the net to retrieve the return and flick a winner that wrong-footed Kohlschreiber in the sixth game.

Former world No3 Ivan Ljubicic also reached the third round by beating 12th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, while big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic downed Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 7-5.

"I was a break down in both sets, but he struggled to close it down," Ljubicic said. "Of course, he's not a patient player. He goes for his shots. On clay, he gives you a little bit more (opportunity] than normal."

Tsonga, who is playing without a coach since splitting from Eric Winogradsky, rued his missed chances."I am very disappointed," Tsonga said. "I had the feeling I was playing extremely well for a set and a half."

Nadal starts his clay-court season today with a second-round match against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, while Andy Murray is due on court this morning at 10.30am (BST) against Radek Stepanek.