Roger Federer secured his first win at this year's ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday by beating Richard Gasquet in straight sets.
Federer, a six-time winner of the event, was beaten by world N. 2 Novak Djokovic in his opening Group B game at the season-ending tournament in London on Tuesday, but he responded impressively against Frenchman Gasquet.
Sixth seed Federer won 6-4, 6-3 in 81 minutes to keep his hopes of reaching the semifinals alive.
Federer has never lost a hard-court game against Gasquet and he secured the first break in the third game of the match when the eighth seed hit a simple backhand into the net.
Gasquet responded and took advantage of a double fault and two unforced errors from the Swiss to break back at 4-4.
However, Federer immediately secured his second break when a lengthy rally ended with Gasquet going long with a forehand and the 17-time grand slam winner served out the set.
Federer carried on where he left off by breaking in the first game of the second set and Gasquet failed to convert two break points in the fourth game as the Swiss battled to hold serve.
Gasquet also had an opportunity to break in each of Federer's next two service games, but was unable to peg his opponent back.
The former world No. 1 made hard work of securing victory, with some sloppy errors ensuring he needed a sixth match point to see off Gasquet when the Frenchman netted a forehand.