Florida: Roger Federer is a three-time winner in Miami but this campaign was under serious threat in the very first match when world number 46 Radu Albot took the first set 6-4 at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens here.
Despite reaching the finals of last week's tournament in Indian Wells the world number 5 looked rusty until he broke free in the second set.
The 37-year-old showed his fitness by dominating the decider against the Moldovan - it's the first time he has won from a set down in Miami since he did it to Andy Roddick in 2012.
In other action, 24th seed Grigor Dimitrov set a third-round date with Jordan Thompson. The Bulgarian secured a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez, needing exactly one hour to extend his stay in South Florida.
Interestingly, this time last year Dimitrov was the world number four - now he's stuck down at 29. The Bulgarian needs results like this at the big tournaments - he dropped just 4 games to Lopez and will face Australia's Jordan Thompson next.
Also, Stan Wawrinka is another struggling to regain past glories. The 3-time major winner lost in a third set tie-break to journeyman Filip Krajinovic - the Serbian ranked 103 in the world is up against Federer.
